The Emerald Mantis
by Striders-Girl89
Summary: Southwark Cathedral the oldest Gothic Church in London. There have been strange sightings around the church of people dressing up in Praying Mantis costumes, but is that what they really are? See first chapter for more detailed summary. Tenth Doctor OC
1. Chapter1: Bella's Gift to Sarah Jane

**Summary: The Doctor and Bella head off to Southwark Cathedral in London after seeing a strange thing on the news; A tall green blur heading for the cover of the church. Is it someone dressing up to scare the city of London or is it something more sinister? They need to figure it out quickly or risk U.N.I.T, who is already on high alert considering the city of London often sees a lot of alien activity over Christmas, getting involved.**

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><p><em><strong>Author's note: And I'm Back! Woo Hoo! Anyways, I've got a new story for you all, that pretty much follows straight on from the crossover with the Sarah Jane adventures that I did. You don't need to have read that for this story to make sense, it just starts where that one left off. Sort of. Anyway, just a bit of fluff to get us all started, I hope you all enjoy!<strong>_

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><p><strong>The Emerald Mantis<strong>

The Doctor breathed deeply, not wanting to open his eyes. He had yet again fallen asleep beside Bella on her bed. _They were starting to make a habit of this_, he thought to himself as he smiled.

He opened his eyes as his keen nose detected something that smelt irresistibly delicious and looked around, finding that Bella wasn't beside him in bed as she was supposed to be. Glancing around the rest of the room that the TARDIS had decorated with posters and photographs for Bella when she had first begun to travel with them, he discovered that she wasn't in the comfy arm chair in the corner of the room beside the tall, narrow bookcase either.

He sat up and straightened his brown and blue tie before sliding off the bed to stand up. He moved over to the arm chair and, picked up his brown, pinstriped jacket and slid his arms into the sleeves and did up two of the buttons. He walked over to the bedroom door, opened it and stepped out into the corridor where he breathed in before following his nose.

To the kitchen.

The Doctor leant against the door frame and watched Bella with a fond, crooked smile. She moved around the kitchen with her back to him, retrieving the source of the mouth-watering smell from the oven. She had changed out of the clothes that she'd been wearing the day before and now wore her black converses, a pair of dark denim jeans and what the Doctor knew to be her favourite, dark grey _Top Gear_ jumper.

Eventually, Bella turned around, obviously feeling the Doctor's gaze on her. Her face lit up when she saw that he was smiling at her.

"I've baked a cake," she grinned excitedly.

"I gathered," he laughed as he saw flour on her face. "You've gotten flour everywhere!"

"I know," she said apologetically. "It's just a makeshift present for Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde and Rani."

"A present?" he repeated. "What for?" he asked.

"It's Christmas Eve, Doctor," Bella told him, smiling as she shook her head slightly.

"Is it?" the Doctor asked, tugging on his earlobe as he frowned, wondering where all that time had gone.

"You know, for a _Time_ Lord, you're rubbish at keeping time," she told him with a cheeky grin.

"Oi!" the Doctor reprimanded making Bella's smile widen.

He smiled despite himself and moved forward to look at the cake on the table. It was amazing; a two-dimensional version of the TARDIS lying flat on the cake board. One of the TARDIS doors was open and there was a cake version of himself leaning out the door, waving and a speech bubble was beside his head with the words 'Merry Christmas' written neatly inside of it. There was icing-tinsel and icing-mistletoe placed neatly over the TARDIS and in black lettering underneath the words '_Vworp! Vworp!_' was written in Bella's handwriting.

"This is brilliant!" the Doctor beamed.

Bella smiled, like she knew something that the Doctor didn't. _"This_ is nothing," she said winking, "But you'll have to wait and see what else I have up my sleeve."

He looked to her and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, so I'm a tad excited for Christmas this year," she grinned, "but who can blame me, I've missed out on five, I need to catch up!"

The Doctor watched her guiltily as she put a real sprig of mistletoe on the corner of the cake, above the Doctor's head.

"Hey Bella," he said softly and she looked up to him, "happy Christmas Eve!"

She laughed as he hugged her tightly. "Merry Christmas Eve to you too!"

They laughed fondly and let each other go, Bella glancing down to her watch.

"It's eleven o'clock," she said, "Not too early for a social call, do you think?"

"I think it's the perfect time for a social call," the Doctor smiled.

-o-

The Doctor knocked on Sarah Jane's front door beside Bella, who held a rather large brown box that contained the TARDIS cake, smiling excitedly. After a few moments the door opened and Luke grinned at them.

"You could have come in the backdoor like normal," Luke laughed.

"No we couldn't," the Doctor said seriously, "This is an official visit."

Luke looked to Bella unsure, but Bella grinned back at him.

"It's our way of wishing you all a Merry Christmas," she told him and he smiled and shook his head.

"You guys are so alien," Luke grinned, making the Doctor and Bella laugh.

"Who is it Luke?" they heard Sarah Jane call from in the kitchen.

"It's the Doctor and Bella," Luke said back, standing aside so that the Doctor and Bella could move into the hallway. The Doctor heard footsteps from the lounge room beside them before Clyde and Rani appeared in the doorway, grinning.

"Why didn't they come in the back door?" asked Sarah Jane, Bella exchanging a quick smile with the Doctor before Sarah Jane appeared in the hallway.

"Come in, come in," she said warmly, "I've just put some tea on,"

"Brilliant," the Doctor smiled, following Sarah Jane and Luke into the kitchen.

"What's in the box?" he heard Clyde ask somewhere behind him.

"A present," Bella answered simply before she placed the box gently down on the kitchen table.

"Is is alien tech?" Clyde asked excitedly, hovering around her. "A build-your-own-time machine set?"

Bella laughed as Sarah Jane reprimanded him.

"No Clyde, it's not a build-your-own-time machine," she grinned.

"Shame," Rani said seriously, "we could have used it to go back in time to tell our science teacher not to make his test so hard."

The Doctor grinned at Sarah Jane, who rolled her eyes.

"It isn't much," Bella said to Sarah Jane, the Doctor picking up on a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Sarah Jane smiled at Bella before lifting up the lid off the box and gasping as she took in the detailed cake. "Bella, it's wonderful!" she gushed, hugging Bella tightly (which caught her off guard) while Luke, Clyde and Rani all leant in to have a look.

"Wow," Luke beamed with a massive smile.

"That's amazing," Rani said in awe, "I can't believe that's a cake!"

"Looking good Doctor," Clyde said to the Doctor, winking.

"Naturally, of course," the Doctor said as he straightened his tie, making both Bella and Sarah Jane laugh fondly.

"Did you make it?" Sarah Jane asked Bella.

She nodded, "this morning, I hope you like it."

"I love it!" she said, giving Bella another hug.

"I guess the question now is," Clyde said seriously, suddenly holding onto a rather large bread knife and looking down to the cake with a frown, "Does it taste as good as it looks?"

"Oh Clyde, don't you dare!" Sarah Jane cried, moving forward to grab the knife off Clyde as everyone else laughed. "At least wait until I get some pictures first!"

-o-

The Doctor stood in the doorway of the lounge room watching as Bella, Luke, Clyde and Rani played _Cluedo_ on the coffee table, laughing loudly while listening to modern Christmas carols on the music channel on television while they played.

"She's quite the amazing person," said Sarah Jane softly, appearing at his side with a steaming hot mug of tea for both of them, "Quite the match for someone like you."

"She is much better than I've ever been," the Doctor admitted quietly.

"You're both equally amazing in my book, Doctor," Sarah Jane told him, "and trust me, not many people come close to you!"

Everyone around the table all suddenly cried out as they laughed, making the Doctor and Sarah Jane look to their laughing faces.

"No way!" exclaimed Bella. "It was meant to be the Reverend in the Library with the lead pipe!" She said adamantly with Luke nodding in agreement.

"No, no, it was the professor in the library with the lead pipe."Clyde said, trying to sort through all the cards that had just fallen off the coffee table and onto the floor surrounding him. "Or maybe it was Colonel Mustered in the conservatory with a revolver?"

Bella and Luke exchanged an amused glance, trying their hardest not to laugh at their friend while Rani frowned and looked at Clyde beside her.

"Aww Clyde, you dope, you dropped all the cards!" she sighed.

Bella and Luke burst out laughing while Clyde looked across to them sheepishly. Rani shook her head, smiling despite herself.

"So," Sarah Jane said, turning back to the Doctor as the others began to throw cards at one another childishly, "a quiet Christmas this year then?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said, "I might take Bella to somewhere where it is snowing, I think she'd like that; maybe the North Pole to meet the reindeer?"

"No alien encounters for Earth then?" she laughed at the Doctor's seriousness.

"Not this year," he grinned.

"Doctor," said Bella quietly.

He looked to Bella, and then looked in the direction that she was looking, which was at the television where the midday news had come on. An English reporter stood in a warm black jacket outside in the cold London weather in the middle of a busy square. Behind the man stood in all its glory, Southwark Cathedral.

"_Reports from eye witnesses say that all sightings lead back to this very cathedral_," the reporter said seriously. "_But what exactly is creating the strange drains in the city's power has authorities and experts alike flummoxed. Some believe that it is the work of aliens, seeing as it is Christmas time, some think it is a fault with the lines and some are even going so far as to say it is the work of God himself –_"

"The work of God, my –"Clyde began to say before being shushed by Bella and Rani.

"_Reports have been saying that several people dressed as human-sized Praying Mantises have been seen and all eye-witness accounts say the same thing; that the people have all been seen in, or around this ancient church. This news has created a mix of fear and excitement among the locals and as you can see behind me, it has certainly drawn out a crowd! Yet is all of this just an elaborate hoax done by the church to gain more interest in their religion and cash in on the new alien obsession caused by the past few Christmas's?_"

The reporter paused before turning slightly as the camera zoomed out in order to fit another man that was dressed in black robes with a single white square on his neck below his chin and a large gold cross on a gold chain.

"_Reverend Angelo Balin joins us now,_" the reporter continued, holding up a microphone up for the reverend. "_Tell me Reverend, what can you say about the hoax?_"

The grey haired man frowned disapprovingly. "_Well, I can tell you now that the church has absolutely nothing to do with whatever is going on here_."

"_So, you are denying that is an elaborate plan to bring more people back into the church?_"

"_Of course I am denying such a ridiculous accusation, there is no evidence to even suggest that any power defects lead back to here –"_

"_Is the Vatican involved in anyway?_" the reporter pressed.

Bella looked past the frustrated looking Reverend to the cathedral behind him, seeing something tall and green in the shadows move out of sight.

"Doctor," she whispered quietly, shocked by what she had seen.

"Come on!" the Doctor said, already out in the hallway.

Bella instantly stood up and moved towards the door.

"You can't just leave!" complained Clyde as he and the other two stood up, watching as Bella quickly walked away from them.

"I'm sorry Clyde," Bella said, stopping and turning back to them. She was sorry; she would have liked nothing more than to stay with them, but the irresistible call of adventured had already infected her. "This isn't goodbye, now that you've meet us, there is no chance of us staying away!"

"Why can't we come too?" Luke asked, obviously disappointed by the abrupt farewell.

"Have you seen what's happened every other Christmas?" Bella laughed. "If you ever need our help, just give me a call and we'll be right there. Well, right there for you, we might just have to get out of whatever trouble we're in, but we'll definitely be there!"

Sarah Jane smiled at the confused looks on Luke, Clyde and Rani's faces.

"Beauty of time travel," Bella grinned before they heard the Doctor yell impatiently, "Bella, come on!"

"Thanks for everything, Sarah Jane," Bella said as she gave her a warm hug.

"You're welcome –"

"_Bella_!" the Doctor yelled in sheer vehemence.

Bella rolled her eyes, winked at everyone then ran out the door, down the hall, out the already open back door into the still open TARDIS doors, where the Doctor clicked his fingers and the doors shut behind her.

Sarah Jane and the others waited in silence until they all heard the wonderful sound of the TARDIS dematerialising and then... nothing.

"_I am not answering any more of your ridiculous questions_!" said the flustered Reverend, stalking away from the film crew on the television.

"_Eagar to uncover the truth about the mysterious going-ons surrounding Southwark Cathedral,_" the reporter continued, unfazed about how the interview with the Reverend had just ended. "_We will be here to capture any new development and any glimpse of aliens–"_

"So much for a quiet Christmas," Sarah Jane smiled

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><p><em>R.I.P Elizabeth Sladen, You will be forever missed.<em>


	2. Chapter 2: Southwark Cathedral

**_Author's note: _****_So, this is the first chapter that the story really begins to get going. As you may have noticed already, the story is set at Southwark Cathedral, which is a stunning church and if you live in or around London you should totally go and visit it! If you don't live near London (like me, I was just lucky enough to get to briefly visit there while I was in London) you can google it and look at some of the pictures on their site (or wait for me to put mine up on deviantart). It is so beautiful. I must admit that at some points in this chapter, Bella is channeling my reactions slightly._**

**_Also, just thought I would tell you that I pretty much wrote this entire epsiode whilst listening to the Da Vinci Code and the Angels and Demons soundtracks by Hans Zimmer (he is amazing, by the way!), so all the chapters could have been influenced by that. I do at various points make references to both of the films!_**

**_Anyway, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think, because it matters to me!_**

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><p>Bella felt the TARDIS land on solid ground and the Doctor instantly strode over to the doors, Bella following him excitedly and they both stepped out into the bright sunshine in a handsome courtyard.<p>

"Wow," Bella said, looking to the old stone church before them, the high clock tower situated in the centre of the old Gothic-style building standing out against the blue backdrop of the sky.

"I keep forgetting that you're not overly familiar with London," the Doctor said making Bella grin up at him.

"I do apologise for all of this confusion," said a voice from in front of the south-west entrance that belonged to a familiar looking priest. He was the man who had just been on the news. "It's all the silly news crews in the Millennium Courtyard, where we would normally start the tour from. Today though, we will start the tour from here."

The Doctor looked down to Bella and raised his eyebrows. She responded with an enthusiastic grin and together they walked hand-in-hand towards the group of five, stopping just behind them.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said politely and everyone turned and looked up to him. "We couldn't help but to overhear that you were going on a tour, only my friend here has never been to this part of London before and she enjoys history very much."

"I'm a sucker for old things," Bella agreed as she smiled pleasantly at everyone.

The priest smiled happily and held out both his hands welcomingly. "You are both very welcome to join the tour as the more people there are, the better in my opinion! Although, it does cost five pounds each, I'm afraid, not my idea, but I guess we have to keep the church running in some way..."

"Oh," Bella said before reaching into one of her pockets and retrieved a ten pound note and moved forward to pay the reverend.

"Thank you," he said with a slight bow, "now just wait here while I quickly go and put this somewhere safe."

As he walked into the old building, one of the young men in the group moved forward.

"Hi," he said, holding out his hand to the Doctor, who shook it eagerly. "My name is Isaac,"

"Hello Isaac," the Doctor said smiling, "I'm the Doctor and this is Bella."

"Nice to meet you," the tall, sandy haired teenager said as he shook Bella's hand. "This is Alice," he said, introducing the petite, slim girl next him with dark, black hair. "And this is Tristian and Mia,"

The Doctor looked to the two people who Isaac had indicated and smiled at Tristian, another tall teenager who had a thick-set body, broad shoulders and a kind face and Mia, who was taller than Alice and had short brown hair that fell about her face which didn't have the most welcoming expression.

"Pleasure to meet you all," Bella said warmly.

"What brings you all to Southwark then?" the Doctor asked knowingly.

Isaac glanced around before leaning in towards the Doctor more. "The aliens of course!"

The Doctor and Bella exchanged an excited glance, both of them putting on a surprised face.

"Aliens," repeated Bella, "what kind of aliens?"

"These Praying Mantis – looking things," Isaac said excitedly. "They're amazing – we've been studying them for years?"

"Years?" the Doctor said confused.

"Yeah," Isaac nodded enthusiastically, "They've been here for ages! My dad used to tell me stories about seeing them when he was a kid, only one every now and then."

Bella looked suspiciously to the Doctor. Surely he would have known about them had they really been around _that_ long. _Mind_, she thought to herself, _whenever he was here he was a bit preoccupied with another alien_.

"There is no such thing as _aliens_," said Mia darkly.

"So why are you here then?" Bella asked and everyone looked to her. She hadn't meant for that sentence to come out so unkindly, but she couldn't help but feel annoyed with what Mia had said, partly because of all the alien _encounters_ Earth had now had and also because she _was _alien.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments until the reverend came back to them, clearing his throat when he sensed the slight awkwardness of the group.

"Now that that is all taken care of, I would like to formally introduce myself," he said warmly, looking at them all. "My name is Angelo Balin and I am the reverend at this cathedral. I am more than happy to answer any questions that you can think up, the crazier and more unlikely the better, because I've heard them all!"

The Doctor gave a small smile as the grey-haired reverend turned around and began to lead the group towards the gold framed, glass doors. He felt a small hand slide into his and he glanced down to Bella, who had begun to pull him forward excitedly. Grinning, he allowed this as Bella attempted to look everywhere at once.

"Slow down," he laughed, "otherwise you'll miss everything."

"That's what I am trying _not_ to do!" she said seriously. "How many times have you been here?"

"A couple," he shrugged, still amused by her excitement. "I was here when it was first built, looked a bit different back then, of course, but it was still a place of worship. The last time I was here though was a few years ago, chasing Lazarus and trying to keep Martha out of trouble, so I didn't really get to have a proper look around, you know, see how it's all changed."

"That isn't exactly fair, Doctor." Bella said, frowning at him ever-so-slightly.

"I know, I think that I should be allowed to explore the oldest Gothic building in London!" the Doctor said with indignation before adding hesitantly after taking in Bella's words, "You meant the comment about Martha, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Bella smiled, her grip on his hand tightening slightly. "Now come on!"

"The Nave was rebuilt after the fires in 1895 by Sir Arthur Blomfield," Reverend Balin was telling the group as they entered through the doors and Bella came to an abrupt stop, her mouth falling open in wonder as she looked down the Nave towards the Sanctuary that stood down at the opposite end of the ancient building.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, her eyes alight with admiration as the bright sunlight shone through the stain glass windows.

The reverend quickly began to describe the cathedral history whilst leading them to the Font, the place where the baptisms took place, which was to their left. While Reverend Balin spoke happily, the Doctor watched Bella as her eyes passed over the dark, stone basin. Her eyes followed the dark metal poles upwards to the gold tower above it, seeing all the tiny detailing that had been carved into it. Her eyes continued in the upward direction where she saw three stone angel statues that stood before three stain-glass windows.

"Very _Angels and Demons_," she said to herself.

"Let's hope there are no weeping ones," the Doctor said lightly in her ear before adding in more worried tones, "if you do see any weeping ones, tell me won't you?"

Bella nodded and followed Reverend Balin back past the door and down the Nave, the first thing they came across was the monument to William Shakespeare, who was captured lounging about ("Oh, he would have loved that," the Doctor muttered, making Bella grin). As Bella walked she glanced across the Nave to the other side and saw what she knew through her own research back when she was at school was to be the excavated Norman doorway. In an awestruck silence they made their ways through the Crossing and into the choir area, where Bella looked up at the eastern wall, unable to speak, just staring at the twenty-two statues of past bishops, saints, cardinals and Mary Magdalene.

"This is amazing," Bella gasped, the reverend nodding in silent agreement and thinking it was a nice surprise that the youth of today still had an appreciation of history and religion before a terrified scream pierced the respectful silence.

Bella spun around and saw the Doctor running towards a woman who was down in the Nave, clutching at her chest. Bella instantly ran under the wooden beam and down the side of the cathedral that she had not yet seen, noting as she ran that Isaac, Alice and Tristian quickly made after her.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked the woman, quickly grabbing hold of her, "What did you see?"

"I don't know," the woman cried as Bella slowed to a stop beside them, panting ever-so-slightly. The cathedral was deceptively long. "One minute it was just there –"

"Was it green?" asked Isaac, moving past Bella.

"With great, big alien eyes?" continued Tristian eagerly.

The woman gave a terrified squeak and the Doctor turned and glared.

"I think it's best if we let the Doctor do the talking," Bella said quietly and Isaac and Tristian nodded in acceptance.

The Doctor turned back to the woman and continued more gently than before; _some humans just didn't handle seeing something out-of-the-ordinary very well_. "Tell me what happened,"

The woman took a deep breath. "I was over by the excavated doorway when the stone suddenly shifted –"

"Bella," the Doctor said, not taking his eyes off the woman.

"Already on it," she answered and the Doctor could tell that she had already moved over to the partly excavated doorway, which only had about one quarter of the door above ground level, because of the slight echo her voice gave.

"What happened then?" the Doctor pressed.

"This bright green blur ran past me and down into the hole." The woman answered, her voice trembling.

"That's not possible," Reverend Balin said who, along with a sour-faced Mia, had just reached them. "There is no way that that stone has been moved – hey, you can't be in there!" he reprimanded suddenly.

The Doctor looked around to find that Bella had jumped the small barricade that protected the doorway and now stood amongst the ruins, looking directly to him.

"The door hasn't sealed properly." She said quietly and after a moment of shock, the Doctor quickly moved forward and jumped the barricade too.

"You can't just _jump_ the fence!" Reverend Balin cried horrified, he too rushing forward. "It is there for a reason you know! Even the archaeologists haven't been allowed back in after they completed the –"the reverend came to an astonished halt. "Oh my Lord..." he gasped as he too saw the gap in the stone at the top of the old doorway.

"I am no archaeologist!" the Doctor said sternly, Bella smiling slightly.

The Doctor reached into his long overcoat and took out the sonic screwdriver and held it up to the stone that shouldn't be able to move. The blue glow from the sonic remained until there was a scraping noise and the doorway began to slide down until it reached the point of the floor.

Everyone stared at the hole in silence.

"What's down there?" asked Alice, excitement and nervousness in her voice.

The Doctor knelt on his knees and peered through the sixty centimetre gap into complete darkness. He handed Bella his sonic before retrieving a small torch from his overcoat and leant into the hole, Bella placing a hand on the Doctor's shoulder in case he slipped while she craned her neck to see too.

"We are going to need as many torches as possible," the Doctor said slowly as he heard Reverend Balin say that he would go and get them.

"He'll need some help," Bella said to the others and Isaac, Tristian and Mia all rushed off to help. Alice quietly helped the woman toward where Reverend Balin had rushed too, suggesting a nice cup of hot tea as they walked.

"Have you ever heard of aliens that look like Praying Mantises before?" Bella asked the Doctor quietly once they were alone.

"What makes you think that they aren't people dressing up?" he asked her lightly.

Bella raised her eyebrows. "The door gives it away." She laughed.

He grinned at her before Isaac's voice broke the eerie silence.

"We've got torches!" he said, his voice full of excitement as he ran back towards them, the others behind him.

"I've also told the ladies in the gift shop not to let anyone else inside the cathedral until we've figure out what it is that we're dealing with and to look after that poor woman." Said Reverend Balin, carrying two old lanterns that he had already lit.

"There's a gift shop?" the Doctor asked, his voice going slightly higher than it normally would have due to excitement as he stood up and turned around to grin at the reverend. "I love gift shops!"

Bella laughed quietly while shaking her head.

"There's a secret door in the oldest part of the church and you're excited about a shop?" Mia asked sceptically.

"I like little shops," the Doctor said, his voice returning to its normal pitch yet sounding a little hurt.

"Can we go and see what's down there now?" Isaac asked his face alight with excitement.

"Oh alright," the Doctor sighed, turning towards the door, "But only if we get to visit the shop on the way out."

"Come on, Doctor!" laughed Bella fondly, pushing him forward as she could feel herself shaking with anticipation. She had no idea what was going to be down there, but that's what made it so exhilarating; stepping blindly into the unknown. There could be anything down there; an old, dusty room, a tomb of someone important, yet long forgotten or even something as simple as a bedroom for a reverend or a groundskeeper. _Down the rabbit hole_, so to speak...

"Okay, okay!" the Doctor said, moving closer to the door and sitting down before the upper half of the door so that he could swing his legs into the unknown. "Anyone would think that you're excited, Bella!" he said, giving her a wink and a crooked smile before sliding down into the dark.

"Careful!" she gasped before a hand reached up and a voice said, "Torch!"

She smiled slightly and knelt down to hand the Doctor's torch to him as the others began to climb the barricade to join them. She sat and dangled her feet into the darkness, her hands grabbing hold of the stone ledge above the door and she began to lower herself down. For a split second she hung there, her feet unable to touch the ground, before the Doctor placed his hands on her hips and lowered her down to the dusty, stone floor, her hands resting on his chest.


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Unknown

**_Author's note: Here is the next chapter, I hope you are all enjoying it! This is where things really start to get into the swing of things. I offer a bit information on Bella's childhood in this chapter, which I will go into more detail in the next series (the ideas for the next series are coming along nicely, in case you were wondering!). There is also a bit of a... well, it's a scene that I hope isn't too Mary Sue or mushy, I didn't intend for it to be so. Anyway, let me know what you think, as I always appreciate the feedback!_**

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><p>It was so dark that Bella couldn't even see the Doctor who still stood close in front of her until her turned his torch on, which blinded her momentarily. They quickly looked around and Bella found herself in an arched, stone corridor that large spiders had covered the walls with their thick webs. On the floor was a thick layer of dust and dirt that had marks from people (or aliens) using the tunnel recently. They both looked back to one another and grinned, both of them giving a '<em>squee<em>' of excitement.

Isaac jumped down with a crash and he too turned his torch on. "Whoa," he exclaimed looking around the tunnel, awe-stuck.

When Alice, Tristian, Mia and Reverend Balin finally joined them down in the tunnel, everyone turned on their torches (or in Bella and the reverend's case, lit their lanterns) and exchanged an unbelieving, yet excited, grin, with the one exception of Mia before the Doctor said quietly "Allons-y!"

Bella grinned at him and they both began to walk forwards, their footsteps sounding muffled due to all the dust and dirt. The others followed silently, unused to such an extraordinary and adventurous situation. The torchlight shone on the walls as they walked, which had faded paintings that couldn't really be made out and they continued to follow the tunnel around many corners that took them both to the left and the right until the suddenly came to a large, empty room.

The room had a high decorated ceiling and as the others concentrated on trying to make out the frescos on the walls, the Doctor and Bella looked up, noticing water leaking in from the corners of the roof.

"We must be under the Thames," Bella said quietly, touching the water that was trickly slowly down the wall beside her.

"Mmm," the Doctor agreed, "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if it is leaking through what I would think – and hope – to be at least half a mile of stone and rock, then it could all turn out rather badly."

"It could have been a lot of stonework once, but the Thames has a pretty powerful current that could have eroded it back to only a few inches..." Bella said intelligently and the Doctor nodded in silent agreement.

"Oh well, you guys are great to have with us," Mia said moodily and Bella turned to look at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "You're both so absorbed with the science behind how we are all going to die to notice the fact that you're standing under mistletoe."

The Doctor and Bella exchanged a quick glance before looking upwards again, seeing this time the dark green bunch of mistletoe that they had failed to notice before hanging in one spot directly above their heads. As they both looked back to one another sheepishly, Isaac gave a light-hearted whistle then wrapped his arms around Alice's middle before kissing her lightly on her cheek while Alice, Tristian and Reverend Balin all laughed.

"Now, we'll be having now of that here, thank you!" chuckled Reverend Balin as he walked past them, the others following him out of the room, the two young men giving both the Doctor and Bella winks as they went.

"It's probably full of Nargles anyway," Bella said gesturing up to the mistletoe, suddenly feeling nervous.

The Doctor gave her a fond smile before taking her left hand and leaning forward to kiss her tenderly on her forehead. They stayed like that for a few moments until the Doctor stood back up to his full height, gave her another smile at her stunned expression before moving towards the next tunnel.

"Come on," he said excitedly and entered the new tunnel.

Bella stood stunned momentarily before turning towards the tunnel and cursing herself; that would have been the perfect opportunity for her to tell him how she felt, that she loved him back. But she hadn't. She'd gotten all nervous and froze up, _just like some ordinary human,_ she thought darkly. She rolled her eyes in the flickering light from her lantern, feeling angry with herself. The Doctor had been able to say that he loved her, she thought, so it shouldn't be so hard to say it back. _I mean_, Bella thought, _the Doctor had said it to my father of all people, the least I could have done would be to tell him the same back whilst alone in a non-hostile situation – especially seeing as we're hardly ever in _non_-hostile situations_.

Still feeling surprisingly angry with herself, Bella lifted the lantern and headed after the others, still deep in thought. It didn't take an overly long time to catch up to the rest of the group, which the Doctor was now leading again confidently through the dark.

He glanced back to see Bella fall in beside Reverend Balin and he received a small, guilty looking smile and he wondered what she could possibly be feeling guilty about. Sure, the Nargle reference earlier was pretty bad, but everyone was entitled to telling a bad joke here and there; not everyone could be as good as he was in the jokes department! Shrugging, he turned back to look where he was walking.

Bella watched the back of the Doctor's brown-haired head and wondered why it was so hard for her to say how she felt because she did love him; she loved him more than anyone or anything in the entire universe. Maybe it was because she'd never needed – or wanted – to say it to anyone before and it wasn't like she had loving parents to say it too as they tucked her in at night, or even a boyfriend at secondary school who was inseparable from her (although her best friend's brother, Dylan, did try awfully hard to get that role for almost as long as Bella could remember). Bella had never really had anyone to love apart from Sally and she'd never told Sally this. At five years old Bella had only ever said that she loved her father once, when he had tried to kill her in a car accident and even then it was only because at five years old you love your parents unconditionally, _even if one of your parents is already planning your own demise_, Bella thought darkly.

She gave a sigh and followed everyone in silence beside Reverend Balin. They turned a corner and discovered on the walls torches made from wood that were alight and producing both bright light and warm heat, which none of them minded for the temperature had dropped, even if it did confirm that _something_ was living down there.

After they had been walking almost half an hour, Bella found that the somewhat tense silence needed to be broken.

"Any minute now, Tom Hanks is going to come running around the next corner in the utmost of haste, closely followed by Ewan McGregor," she said lightly.

"We aren't in Vatican City," the Doctor pointed out, sounding amused.

"Alright," Bella admitted, seeing the plot flaw there, "he's followed closely by Ian Mckellen then!"

"Sir," Tristian said suddenly.

"What?" asked Bella, looking to him.

"Ian Mckellen is a _sir_, he's been knighted." Tristian explained.

Bella stared at him. "Well isn't he _wizard_," she said sarcastically which made the Doctor laugh.

"Ha-ha!" said Isaac, who was sniggering at Bella's remark. "Good one,"

"Thank you," Bella smiled, feeling rather proud of herself.

The group suddenly came to an unexpected halt and Bella pushed politely past everyone until she stood beside the Doctor, both of them looking from side-to-side.

They had come to a fork in the tunnel and both ways were lit up with flaming torches. The two of them looked back to one another.

"Which way?" asked Bella softly, the Doctor feeling grateful that she hadn't suggested to split up.

"I reckon we should split up," Isaac said behind them.

The Doctor opened his mouth to disagree, but Bella spoke before he had the chance to speak.

"Doctor, there is some merit for splitting up," she said gently. "I mean, it looks as though there is the same amount of traffic going both ways."

"I don't think we should split up," the Doctor said hesitantly, "These tunnels could go off in all directions and we could get lost or even end up in somewhere like Canary Wharf."

"We might not," Bella said lightly with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"And what about the possibility of aliens hiding around the next corner?" the Doctor asked, his eyebrows raised.

Bella flashed her smile. "They could be nice."

"They might not be," he said with a smile.

Bella's face fell ever-so-slightly. "We'll cover more ground this way and I'm sure that the paths might cross again."

The Doctor hesitated, glancing quickly down both the tunnels before nodding slowly. "Be careful," he said slowly, "the first sign of trouble and you run and find me, okay?"

Bella nodded, an enthusiastic smile working its way across her face. "Gotchya!" she grinned.

"I will go with her," said Reverend Balin, moving forward past everyone else, "Because not only do I believe that we'll cover more ground that way, but I also believe that we'll discover more about what – or who – built these extraordinary tunnels."

The Doctor gave a weak smile as Bella grinned at the reverend.

"So that's settled then," Bella said, still grinning, "the reverend and I will go off to the right and you guys will go with the Doctor to the left."

"Why should we go with him?" Mia asked sourly, obviously not liking being told what to do, especially from Bella.

Bella looked to her, her jaw suddenly tight. "Because he is the best person in the entire universe to be running around in secret tunnels underneath the oldest gothic building in London whilst looking for bright green aliens," she said coolly as if that was the most obvious thing anyone could possibly say.

The two young women stared at each other in a hostile kind of way, neither of them looking as though they would let up any time soon. The Doctor, uncomfortable that this – _disagreement _– was about him, cleared his throat.

"Yes, we chould be getting a move on," Bella said, her cheeks gaining a bit of colour as she glanced down to her leather-banded watch. "So what's the plan? We've already been down here about half-an-hour, do you want to give it half-hour down our separate ways before turning back and meeting here?"

The Doctor nodded. "I couldn't have put it better myself,"

"Excellent," Bella grinned before winking, "see you in half-an-hour then!"

The Doctor watched Bella and Reverend Balin turn and begin to walk down the tunnel that veered off to the right with somewhat of a bad feeling regarding the split. When he stopped to think about it, bad things always seemed happen when he and his companion became separated, no matter which one it was; Rose had nearly been killed by the possessed Ood on Sanctuary Base Six, Martha had nearly been incinerated by the sun that the crew had been stealing fuel from and Donna had been tricked into a tent with a member of the Trickster's Brigade.

As it was, the last three times that Bella had gone off without him horrible things had happened; first, her father had rather cruelly taken her to try and turn her into a Cybercontroller , then while they were at Torchwood, Bella and Ianto Jones went to try and fix the power and Ianto was knocked unconscious and Bella was possessed by a ghost-like-alien who had a bit of a thing for Jack Harkness and then, only a few days ago now, She was locked up in a cell and nearly suffocated!

Albeit none of it was her fault, but between them it seemed that they had the worst luck in the universe. That or they were magnets for trouble.

"Come on," the Doctor said apprehensively, moving off into the tunnel to the left, wondering what it was that was going on in these tunnels.

Bella and Reverend Balin made their way silently – apart from the reverend's exclamations of "extraordinary" and "amazing" here and there – through the tunnels, which were improving in condition the further they walked. The frescos were able to be made out and Bella knew that none of them had anything to do with a church like Southwark Cathedral; they seemed to be influenced by what Bella could only guess to be some kind of Pagan gods.

Bella's phone suddenly made a beeping noise and vibrated in her jeans pocket which made her jump before she pulled it out, discovering that she had received a text message from Captain Jack Harkness.

"_Merry Christmas Bella,_" it said, "_I am assuming that you are part of events at Southwark Cathedral because, well, it is Christmas Eve and you're with the Doctor! I just thought I would let you know that the whole thing is receiving a lot of media coverage, so it is grabbing the attention of a lot of secret organisations, especially UNIT. They aren't on their way from the Tower of London yet, but I doubt it'll be much longer until they decide to investigate._"

Bella looked up, biting her lip. They needed to quietly deal with whatever situation they were faced with before UNIT barged in, guns blazing.

She quickly sent a text back saying "_Thanks for the heads up,_" before sliding her phone back into her pocket.

"Something wrong?" asked Reverend Balin, looking at Bella's disturbed face.

"No, not yet," she answered quietly, hoping that UNIT didn't become involved. "There is just the possibility that all this could get very ugly."

Reverend Balin surveyed her troubled expression. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself before you received that text message."

She gave him a small smile which she hoped would give him the indication for a change in conversation. "I still am Reverend Balin,"

"Please Bella, call me Angelo," he told her, waving away the formalities. "_Reverend_ is merely a title to make oneself feel more important than one truly is. No," he shook his head, "I would much prefer to be called by my first name when I am not on official church business, it makes me feel as though everyone is an equal, just like God intended us to be."

Bella nodded and smiled, liking this man very much after what he had just said.

"So are you a person of religion or a historian?" Angelo asked conversationally as they walked.

"Neither, but I suppose a historian would be closer to the truth," Bella said wondering what profession travel in time and space would fall under; professional adventurer, perhaps? "I am open to religion; I just haven't come across one that really suits me I suppose..."

"You have lost someone dear to you," Angelo assumed solemnly, "and you don't understand how God can take them away?"

Bella felt her stomach drop uncomfortably. She had lost so many.

"Do you think that they were undeserving of death?"

Bella thought about her answer before she gave it. "I think I wouldn't want to be the person who had to decide who lives and who dies," she answered slowly, "nor the one who judges whether a person _deserves_ it or not. That is far too much power for one person to bear."

Angelo smiled slightly. "A very wise answer,"

"Thanks," Bella laughed.

"The world could do with more people like you," he added.

"I dunno about that," she whispered painfully, thinking of what she had done to her own father.

Angelo opened his mouth to say something when the ground beneath them felt as though it gave a slight shudder.

"First sign of trouble?" said Bella slowly, referring to what the Doctor had said before and Angelo nodded in silent agreement.

As they both took a slow, hesitant step back, the stone floor that they were standing on suddenly dropped beneath their feet and both Bella and Angelo plunged into darkness.

The Doctor walked silently as the four teenagers followed him trustfully down the tunnels with the flickering fire torches. He had to admit that Bella's call about expecting Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor to be lurking in these mysterious tunnels had some merit; it all did feel very _Angels and Demons-sy_, however, that could have been to do with the fact that they were underneath a really old church.

He stopped walking suddenly and both Isaac and Tristian walked into him, complaining loudly as teenagers do.

"SHHH!" he hissed, straining his ears to hear...

A scream.

It was a horrifying familiar scream that chilled him to his very core, one that he had not wanted to hear down in these tunnels.

"Was that a scream?" Alice whispered fearfully.

"It was probably just the others," Mia said emotionlessly, as though she couldn't care any less. "I bet Bella fell over an old skeleton or walked into a big spider web. I knew she'd be a screamer."

The Doctor turned around and glared angrily at Mia before he heard a new sound heading towards them. He looked past Mia just before a wall of hot air rushed past them, nearly knocking them all off their feet and covering them all in a thick layer of dust.

"Bella," the Doctor said quietly as everyone turned their torches back on in the new darkness.

"What was that?" Isaac asked, holding onto Alice's hand tightly.

"It was a surge of air," the Doctor said, trying to remain calm, "probably caused by something opening suddenly like a hidden door or maybe something collapsing or even exploding –"

"What about a deadly trap door?" Mia suggested unhelpfully, obviously enjoying the current situation.

"Mia!" reprimanded Tristian as the Doctor turned to glare at her again with a _that-really-isn't-helping-the-situation-at-all _look.

"All I was doing was giving a possibility as to what _could_ have happened." Mia said innocently.

"Well, don't." The Doctor said with surprising harshness to his voice that he normally didn't use on humans. He glared at her for a couple of seconds, where she dropped her gaze to her feet, before he turned and begun to make his way back down the tunnel.


	4. Chapter 4: Down the Trap Door

**_Author's note; Hello everybody, sorry that it has taken me so long to get this chapter up, computer problems and what not. A small-ish chapter this time._**

**_On a different note, how amazing was the revelation about River Song in the episode 'A Good Man Goes To War'? AHHHH! The whole episode was brilliant!_**

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><p>Bella gave an involuntary scream as she fell downwards before her body collided with the hard surface of still water, the sheer force of the contact knocking all the breath out of her. She remained still as she slowly sunk deeper and deeper into the depths, her eyes hardly seeing anything in the dark water except for something glittering in what must have been some kind of light coming from the surface somewhere above them. It took her oxygen deprived brain a lot longer than it should have to realise what it was.<p>

A gold cross on a gold chain floated in the water, but it was not on its own; it was connected to something, to someone. Not used to her brain working at such a slow rate, Bella continued to sink further down into the darkness, her vision becoming blurry. Finally, she realised why the gold cross was so relevant to her. Reverend Angelo Balin had been wearing one before they had fallen.

Without making a conscious decision to do so, Bella suddenly began to swim upwards, every fibre in her body screaming for air. Her head broke the surface and she automatically took in a painful gasp of breath.

She looked around her, her eyes watering from the pain from her lungs. "Angelo?" she croaked out, her voice hardly working. It was only since taking a breath that she realised how cold the water actually was. Shivering she put her head back under the water despite every instinct telling her not too.

She squinted down into the darkness and saw Angelo two metres down below her. Without taking another breath, she dived down deeper into the water, her arms stretched out in front of her. As she finally reached him and grabbed his arm, she could have sworn that she had seen something move deeper down below them.

Dismissing this as her brain's way of telling her that she was on the verge of passing out, Bella started swimming back to the surface as fast as her oxygen-deprived lungs would allow her to go. Because she was now pulling Angelo up as well, it felt like hours had passed before she was able to take a much needed, however painful, breath.

Again Bella looked around her as she tread water, struggling to keep both of their heads above the water, and saw a small ledge just above the water level. As her head spun, she swam on her side over to the stone edge where it turned out that the water was shallow enough for her to stand. Using the water to carry most of Angelo's weight, Bella managed to roll him up to the higher ground.

As she put her hands on the ledge to push herself out of the water, she heard a splash behind her. She quickly turned and saw ripples on the water's surface moving towards her from the other side of the square room. Frowning, she didn't think that she was merely imagining things any more.

They weren't alone…

Quickly climbing out of the cold water as paranoia set in (she could have sworn something touched her leg beneath the water) she rolled Angelo over onto his back and put an ear to his chest to listen to breathing; which he wasn't doing. Without thinking she moved his head back, took a deep breath, held onto his nose and placed her mouth on his, breathing out. She quickly continued the resuscitation process until after a few attempts, the reverend suddenly coughed up water before gasping for air and rolling on his side.

"You're okay," Bella said quietly, sitting back relieved, "just relax, you're fine."

Angelo nodded as he coughed some more before staying still, just catching his breath while Bella sat beside him, holding as tightly as she could onto his hand as she breathed deeply, observing her surroundings.

The trap door that they had both fallen through had closed itself now, which meant that they couldn't get out, not that Bella had expected to be able to get out the way they had come in. On the opposite wall to where they were sitting, Bella saw a square hole in the wall that was about two metres up; _an old-school ventilation shaft of some kind_, Bella thought optimistically, but her optimistic thoughts of escape were pushed to the side once she noticed the frescos on the walls. At a first glance she had thought them to be of a more Pagan design, but now that she looked at me more carefully she saw that they had nothing to do with any Pagan Gods that she knew of at all, the subject matter was that of a rather large, pinkish squid.

Glancing back down to the water's still surface, Bella let go of Angelo's hand and stood up.

"Angelo, we need to get out of here," she said quickly and quietly.

He sat up, looking to her as he heard the uncertainty and fear in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"Have you ever seen _Star Wars_?" Bella asked, thinking how strange it felt to ask a reverend such a question.

He nodded and gave her a smile. "_Star Wars_ is my guilty pleasure," he admitted with a wink, "Why?"

Bella hesitated, looking back to the water. "I just hope the walls don't star to close in on us…"

Angelo understood the reference. "Ah," he said less than enthusiastically, "have you seen something in the water?"

"I don't know," she answered slowly, helping the older man to his feet. "I could have been imagining things… mind playing tricks and all that…"

They both stood in silence for a few moments before they both shivered.

"How do you think we can get out?" Angelo asked.

"Well," Bella started, not liking the plan that she had come up with overly much, "on the opposite wall is what looks like an old ventilation shaft. We could climb into it and follow it out; not sure where it'll bring us out or if it is even climbable, but it's worth a shot."

"I agree," Angelo nodded supportively. He didn't like it down here, felt as if something was watching them so any plan would have been good for him.

"Except," Bella hesitated.

"Except what?" he asked.

"The only way to reach it is to swim across the water to the other side,"

Again, they both stood in silence as they looked over the still water. Bella had no desire to get back into the dark, icy water that potentially contained some kind of water dwelling monster (or rather it was more likely to be some kind of alien) that hadn't eaten in a few hundred years, yet she knew that they couldn't stay here forever. Glancing down at her watch (which luckily was waterproof, however, the same could not be said for her mobile phone which was still in her jeans pocket) she saw that half-an-hour had passed since Angelo and her had broken off from the main group. That had been the time that they'd agreed to head back, and Bella knew that the Doctor would be heading back to the meeting point at that very moment.

At the thought of the Doctor, Bella moved forward, her feet squelching in her wet Converses, towards the edge.

"Are you sure about this?" Angelo asked, his voice worried as he stood shivering.

Bella looked back to him. "No," she said honestly before turning back and taking a step forward.

She plunged back into the icy water with a small splash, the fact that she was already wet and cold making it worse than it had originally been, and she began to swim breast-stroke towards the small ledge on the other side of the square pit. She heard a splash behind her and she assumed that Angelo had followed her into the water.

Finally she reached the other side and she quickly jumped out to help Angelo up out of the water too. They gave each other a relieved hug while laughing for being so scared, feeling almost like young teenagers who had watched a horror film who had scared themselves by imagining noises outside the window. They both turned, shivering more than ever before, to look up to the square-shaped vent.

"I'll lift you up," Angelo said.

"Then I can pull you up," Bella added and he nodded and knelt down on one knee.

"Sit on my shoulders," he instructed and Bella quickly climbed onto his shoulders and held onto his hands for balance as he shakily got to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, worried that she was too heavy.

"Fine," he said shortly, "can you reach up and grab the ledge? Stand up if you need to."

She carefully stood up on Angelo's shoulders, apologising profusely as she did so and quickly climbed into the vent, hearing as she climbed up the sound of something disturbing the water. She turned around in the narrow space and let out another involuntary scream when she saw what had caused be trickling sound of water.

A massive pink-ish tentacle with ginormous suckers had risen from the deep water and was waving around before them, as if to taunt and scare them. Angelo had also turned and he stood staring at it, opened-mouthed and frozen into place.

"Angelo!" Bella yelled, panic-stricken as she lay on her belly and stretched her arms down to him. He turned and reached up to her and Bella began to use all her strength to pull him up into the vent. He used his feet to push himself up and Bella struggled to pull him all the way up without falling back into the pit herself.

"Come on," she gasped in desperation, her shoulders feeling like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Angelo suddenly gave a cry and let go of one of Bella's hands; the long, thick tentacle that had emerged from the water had wrapped itself around Angelo's waist.

"No," Bella yelled, putting in all her effort to try and pull Angelo up a bit further that she could muster, but the tentacle fought back and began to lift Angelo upside-down into the air, yet Bella refused to let go.

"Run, Bella," Angelo managed to say and she looked up to him.

"I'm not letting that thing take you!" she said stubbornly, unaware of the silent tears in her eyes.

"You need to go," he whispered, "while you still can."

Bella glanced to the tentacle which was holding the reverend in his current position as if mocking them and Bella's feeble attempts to save Angelo.

"I can't," she choked, looking back to the old man's kind, old eyes. "It'll eat you!"

Angelo almost laughed. "This is what I was born for,"

"No," Bella said sternly, hating the fact that she knew that he really believed in that, one of the many things she disliked about religion while the tentacle had started to pull him away from her, "no!"

"We shall meet again beyond the gates," Angelo said as he let go of Bella's hand and closed his eyes, in peace or fear Bella wasn't sure. "Get back to the Doctor, hurry!"

"NO!" she screamed, half hanging out of the vent to try and grab hold of his hand again as he was pulled quickly into the water, disappearing in mere seconds.

"_Angelo_!" she screamed as loud as she possibly could in sheer desperation, her voice echoing around the walls surrounding her and she was mid-way through moving to jump down the vent after Angelo and the monster when another tentacle begin to slowly rise from the water, making her freeze in fear. As in moved in her direction, fear motivated her mind and she shuffled backwards deeper into the ventilation shaft. The tentacle was searching for her and it entered the shaft and came closer and closer towards her. She kept going until her back hit a solid stone wall and she gave a high-pitched scream and closed her eyes, waiting, terrified, for the tentacle to grab her too.

But it didn't.

Unsure with what had just happened, Bella slowly opened her eyes. In the small amount of light coming from the pit that she had just been in, she could see the end of the tentacle about thirty centimetres away, groping around in the dark for her. Horrified, she stayed absolutely still for several long minutes until slowly, the long tentacle retreated.

It took a few minutes for relief to set in and by that stage she had actually had time to process what had just happened to Angelo in her mind, so her relieved state turned into survivor's guilt. She let out a sob and covered her face with her shaking, dust covered hands. Reverend Angelo Balin had just been killed what Bella imagined to be the Giant Squid from _Harry Potter_. Or possibly the Kraken from _Pirates of the Caribbean_ films. Either way, those thoughts didn't comfort her in the slightest.


	5. Chapter 5: Reunited  Sort Of

**_Author's note: I think I should offer an apology to everyone after the events of last chapter. That was written by my evil self that lives in my subconcious... Haha anyway, I fear that this chapter might not be much better..._**

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><p>The Doctor had frozen when he heard Bella scream out Reverend Balin's name in apparent desperation, but when he heard her terror-filled scream a few moments later he began to run down the now dark tunnel as fast as he possibly could, the others struggling to keep up with him.<p>

He came to a stop when he reached the fork in the tunnel that Bella and Reverend Balin had separated from the group almost an hour ago. He shone his torch down the tunnel frowning, unsure of what to do next. Bella could be anywhere in these tunnels and he didn't want to become lost himself.

"Can you here that?" Alice whispered as her and the others came to a breathless stop behind the Doctor, all of them shinning their torches in different directions.

There was a scuffling noise coming from somewhere above them and the Doctor turned back to the others, shinning his own torch above their heads at the wall until he found a large ventilation shaft high on the wall. The Doctor strained his ears, trying to work out what it was that seemed to be making the noise.

A few moments later, a familiar figure fell from the square hole and landed very painfully on the ground with a yelp.

"Bella," the Doctor gasped, rushing forwards and pushing past the others.

Bella coughed and stood up before looking up emotionally to a concerned Doctor. His keen eyes quickly passed over her and noted that she was sopping wet and covered from head to foot in dirt and cobwebs. Her jeans were torn in various places and the sleeves from her favourite _Top Gear_ jumper were hanging off her arms, torn obviously from the walls in the ventilation shaft.

"Where's the reverend?" asked Mia suddenly.

Bella broke eye contact with the Doctor and looked down to the ground. "He's dead." She said, her voice shaking violently and the Doctor suddenly realised that she was on the verge of tears.

There was a moment of stunned silence in which Mia, Alice, Isaac and Tristian did nothing but stare unbelievingly at Bella, who was trying incredibly hard to compose herself.

"I tried to save him," Bella whispered, hating herself for not trying harder to save Angelo's life. "He let go of my hand and it took him!" she gave a small sob and covered her face in her hands, not wanting the others to see her like this.

The Doctor moved forwards to wrap his arms around her, knowing that because she was crying whatever happened to Angelo had been very traumatising for Bella to see. He felt her hands grab hold of the front of his jacket as her head hit his chest softly. He could feel her shaking, which didn't surprise him; she was wetter than he originally though.

"What happened?" he asked her gently.

Bella took a moment before she answered. "We were just walking along the tunnel together when we felt the ground shake. The floor suddenly gave way and we fell into this pool of deep, cold water. Angelo had stopped breathing, so I resuscitated him…"

"But what took him?" Isaac asked in hushed, scared tones.

"I saw something in the water when we first fell," Bella explained, still gripping tightly onto the Doctor, "and then when Angelo lifted me into the vent, this huge tentacle reached out of the water and – and –"

The Doctor got the picture, as did the others. A shocked silence had fallen and no one seemed to have the heart to break it.

Except for one.

"You left him to die?" Mia accused in a slanderous way. "Why didn't you go after him?"

The Doctor felt Bella tense before she pushed away from him to stand glaring at Mia.

"Well?" Mia pressed her hands on her hips.

"How do you suppose I would have defeated a giant octopus?" Bella asked dangerously and Mia scoffed unbelievingly. "Do forgive me if my mind kicked into survival mode. When you've been in a life-threatening situation you can then tell me how I should or should _not_ have acted, until then, shut up!"

The Doctor watched her turn on her heal and storm furiously down the tunnel to the left feeling taken aback by the abruptness in her voice that was so unlike her.

"Where are you going?" Alice called out to her sounding concerned.

"To find these aliens so I can ask them why they're worshiping a giant sea monster and to tell them that I want Angelo back!" she called back to them.

The Doctor began to follow her silently and unquestionably, Alice and Isaac right behind him. Eventually, after some persuading from Tristian, Mia and Tristian followed also. As he walked, the Doctor watched as Bella unzipped her dripping wet _Top Gear_ jumper (or what was left of it at least) and pulled it off herself before dropping it on the ground. She folded her arms as she shook violently.

He silently took off his heavy, light brown overcoat and gave it to Isaac to hold while he unbuttoned his suit jacket.

"Oh, it isn't _that_ cold," muttered Mia darkly.

"If you don't have anything useful to say, Mia, don't say anything at all!" Alice snapped shortly before the Doctor had the chance to say something along the same lines. Mia clamped her jaw shut and pouted in an immature way as the Doctor sped up and placed his pinstriped jacket over Bella's shuddering shoulders and fell into step beside her after retrieving his overcoat from Isaac.

Bella looked up to him.

"I couldn't give you _this_ jacket," he said seriously, putting his arms in the sleeves of his overcoat, "It would have been a Health and Safety issue, you would have tripped over it, you're not tall enough."

Bella gave a small amused smile and quickly slid her arms into the still-warm sleeves, thankful for the extra warmth. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he grinned, not sure what it was that she was thanking him for; his jacket or his Health and Safety comment.

"Did you find anything down this tunnel?" she asked before he shook his head in answer. "Do you know what they could be?"

"The aliens?" he asked, "No idea, although the giant squid _could_ narrow it down, but it doesn't. Sometimes I think that I am losing my memory."

"Well yeah, Alzheimer's usually sets in at around seventy, so you've been suffering for years." Bella said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, obviously getting the Doctor back for his little jibe about her height before.

He gave her a flash of his best smile before saying, "Cheeky."

Bella looked away from him wearing a crooked smile, reminding herself not to get too distracted from her current objective; to find these aliens and tell them that she isn't at all happy with their pet.

"So," she said, trying to ignore the painful feeling in her heart; she really thought that she should have fought harder to save Angelo's life, "this really is every Christmas for you then?"

"No." he answered her in a definite voice before his continued, his voice taking on a more unsure tone. "Sort of… sometimes… pretty much every Christmas, yeah." He concluded, making Bella laugh. "This time last year, I was defeating this ginormous Cyberking that was terrorising Victorian London. It was controlled by this woman who had been helping them build it by providing slaves and I was in this air balloon that had been named TARDIS too!"

"Well, the government certainly managed to keep that little part of history a secret, didn't they?" Bella said, the Doctor's blasé reference to the Cybermen catching her off guard slightly. "I've never heard of _that_ alien event before."

The Doctor pondered that fact for a moment before continuing, thinking that changing the subject slightly would probably be a good thing. "That's where I met Jackson Lake, brilliant man – he was me, only he wasn't really – I'll have to explain later, anyway, Jackson Lake convinced me to stay and have dinner with him, his son and Rosita and you know what he told me?"

Bella shrugged and shook her head, looking up to the Doctor beside her. He had suddenly become all excited.

"He told me that my next companion would be brilliant!" he said happily, smiling down at her.

Bella returned the smile but didn't feel quite as confident as the Doctor looked. She had done things in her past that she wasn't overly proud of, well, mainly one thing that involved her late father.

"And he was completely right, of course!" the Doctor continued and Bella felt that he really believed it. "Sometimes bad things happen that are out of our control and unfortunately we can't change it, but it doesn't make you a bad person," he said quietly, leaning in to talk into her ear, "that's why they are called _accidents_."

Bella looked to him, thinking that the Doctor could seriously read her mind sometimes. He gave her a quick wink before striding confidently forwards with his torch in front of him to lead the group once more.

Bella gave a small nod, understanding what it was that the Doctor was saying. She finally accepted the fact that she couldn't have done anymore to save Angelo from the sea monster, although the sick feeling of guilt still remained. _I am only human, after all_, she thought to herself with a smirk.

The Doctor led the group confidently through the maze of dark tunnels, only slowing down slightly when he reached the part that they had stopped earlier. This was new, unknown territory now, there could be more trap-doors leading to ever-hungry squids or even deadly booby-traps. He wasn't going to lose anyone else down in the tunnels.

His thoughts drifted to the many possibilities of what the elusive aliens could be and what the power drainages could have to do with them. He honestly had no idea who they were (something he didn't like to admit to that often) and he didn't like that overly much.

There was a sudden noise of stone sliding and scraping on stone and everyone stopped walking, worried as to what was causing it.

"Doctor," Alice suddenly gasped and the Doctor spun around to find her pointing at a large gap that had appeared in the wall directly in front of Bella.

"Bella," the Doctor warned as she had slowly begun to inch forwards to look into the darkness of the secret passageway. She glanced back to him with a reassuring smile and took another step forward.

Suddenly, a tall, green man jumped out of the shadows, making Bella jump back in fright. A second man jumped out at them holding a strange, alien gun and Alice and Mia screamed in fear. Both alien men stood at least one metre-ninety tall with their big, bug-like eyes and their antennae. Instead of having six legs like your average Praying Mantis would, these two only had two legs and two arms, making it seem very human, only greener.

"Oh, you are beautiful!" the Doctor said in admiration with an awestruck look on his face.

Both pairs of alien eyes passed over him before falling onto Bella in front of them and in one swift movement, the unarmed mantis lunged forwards and grabbed Bella's arms.

"NO!" the Doctor yelled about to move forward before the armed mantis pointed his weapon at him. "Let her go!" he ordered.

Bella struggled with her captor, who was obviously struggling to keep a tight hold of her as Isaac and Tristian pulled Alice and Mia backwards away from the commotion.

"You don't need to do this," the Doctor pleaded quickly, his arms raised in surrender, "I can help, whatever it is that you need, I promise you I can help!"

The armed mantis kept his gun on the Doctor, while Bella's captor reached into his pocket and pulled out a high-pressured needle, placing it to the side of her neck and pulling the trigger. A _swoosh_ noise was heard before Bella's body went limp and she collapsed to the floor. The mantis standing over her shoved the needle back into his robes before taking hold of her hands and beginning to drag her backwards into the dark tunnel.

"Bring her back!" the Doctor ordered furiously, his hearts pounding within his chest. "You don't need to do this!"

The armed mantis just looked emotionlessly at him as he himself backed into the tunnel, still holding his gun up to the Doctor. The secret door began to close and the Doctor rushed forwards as it closed fully. He soniced the hidden door quickly but nothing happened. He'd lost her again.

"BELLA!" he yelled, banging his hands on the stone door, his mind full of angst. He stopped his fury-filled banging and rested his forehead on the stone. _Another companion trapped on the other side of wall_, he thought painfully; _at least Bella was still in the right universe_.

After a moment he turned to the others, a determined look on his face.

"Doctor, we're so sorry." Alice said gently, her voice shaking slightly with emotion.

"These aliens just made their final mistake today!" the Doctor said dangerously.

"Taking Bella?" enquired Tristian.

"No, they made me very angry," he answered before heading deeper into the dark tunnel, not caring what he came across now, leaving Tristian thinking that that was the same reason.


	6. Chapter 6:The Doctor's Angsty Moment

**_Author's note: So this chapter is back to my average length and will contain more of the Doctor in 'Oncoming Storm' mode goodness! Please give me your thoughts on the chapter, as I am always looking for feedback to help me improve as a writer. Oh, and let me know what you think of the - uh - surprise arrival :P_**

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><p>Bella slowly regained consciousness, but didn't open her eyes. Her head was pounding and her neck was aching. Whatever that mantis had put in her neck, it had certainly done what it was designed to do. As the feeling in her limbs slowly began to return to her she heard soft voices not too far away from her.<p>

"There was one guy with her that seemed to be really protective of her," said a light-hearted man, "he didn't want us to take her from him, that's for sure."

_The Doctor_, Bella thought, _he was talking about the Doctor_.

"Well, I can't imagine why?" said a sarcastic woman, sounding overworked and tired. "You did just grab the girl, no explanations or anything, who knows what the poor bloke thinks we're doing to her! See it from his perspective, if we were walking innocently along a dark tunnel and one of them grabbed me, how would you react?"

"Ah," the man said guiltily, "but it's probably not the same with humans –"

"They could be life partners," the woman said, trying to prove her point, "she could be his concubine perhaps –"

Bella suddenly made a move to sit up, but she discovered that she was bound to the table. Panicking, her eyes flew open and a blinding light shone in her eyes. She began to struggle to try and free herself, breathing incredibly fast; the last time that she had been tied to a table she had almost been turned into a Cyber controller, hence the reason why she was freaking out so much.

"Bella, calm down," said a familiar voice, who it belonged to she had no idea because she couldn't see due to the light hovering closely to her face and she was definitely not in the state to try and work it out.

"_Doctor_!" she screamed, terrified of her current situation.

"Bella, said the voice again before the lightly moved off her and two, strong hands pressed down on Bella's shoulders in an attempt to keep her from thrashing around. "Relax, you're fine, no one here is going to hurt you, I promise."

Very slowly, Bella's movements became less severe and she calmed down enough to see who the person holding her steady was which freaked her out even more.

Reverend Angelo Balin stood beside her, looking quite concerned and very uneaten.

"Oh my God, I'm _dead_!" she gave a small wail, looking up to Angelo in horror. "I can't be dead, I promised the Doctor that I'd never leave him, and what have I done? Gone and left him –"

"Bella," Angelo chuckled, "I know that I said the next time we'd meet it would be behind the gates, but neither of us have actually died."

Bella stared at him. "You were eaten," she said flatly, questioning her sanity now.

"No," he told her with a smile, "I was brought here. Can we untie her now?" he added, looking to someone behind Bella. A moment later two pairs of green, humanoid hands came to undo the pieces of metal that were binding her to the bench.

Bella watched in an astonished silence. The two humanoid Praying Mantises worked quickly and gently to untie her and when she was free from the restraints they helped her to sit up, where she just stared open-mouthed.

"It's rude to stare," Angelo pointed out, amused.

Bella shook her head, as if trying to snap herself out of it. "I know, but you two are just… remarkable!"

And they were; the two tall mantises stood watching Bella with their big, bug-like eyes. If she were to give a suggestion as to what they resembled the most she would have said that they looked like Mannie the Mantis from the film _A Bug's Life_ except that they stood on two legs and they only had two arms. They were dressed in elegant green velvet robes that had a bit at the back that fell delicately over their four, green-tinted wings and their large, protruding abdomen.

"I mean, you're both stunning!" Bella concluded in awe.

"Thank you," said the woman, the more feminine of the two, "and for a human being you're not bad yourself."

Bella smiled in an I-can't-believe-this-is-happening kind of way.

"My name is Jade," the tall mantis said, holding out her green hand, which Bella took and she found it to be unexpectedly warm.

"I'm Mirte," said the other mantis, he too holding out his hand.

"I'm Bella," she said, taking his hand. "Were you one of the ones who –"

"Yeah," Mirte said, raising a hand to his neck in shame. "Sorry about that, we just wanted to show you that Angelo was safe. I was the one that jabbed you." He added quietly.

Bella gave another smile, this time of forgiveness. "Speaking of Angelo being safe, how exactly did that happen? I seriously thought that you were breakfast – or rather," she glanced down to her watch, "afternoon tea for a certain sea monster."

"Lorelei?" said Jade. "Oh Lorelei wouldn't hurt a fly! She realised that you had both fallen in and gotten trapped and tried to help, but you didn't seem that keen on it." She gestures Bella forward and she lead her around the corner and pointed up.

Bella looked up and felt her mouth drop.

Above her was what seemed to be a massive fish tank instead of a solid stone roof like she'd been expecting. Within the massive tank was the owner of the large tentacle that she had met earlier on. Her guess as to what it was was correct; it was a giant squid.

"Oh my –"

"Now, don't swear, Bella," Angelo grinned at her so she finished her sentence with "mother's giddy aunt," instead.

"She's pretty impressive, isn't she?" Mirte said proudly, as if talking about an over-achieving child.

"I knew that they were aliens," Bella said as Lorelei dropped one of her tentacles through the field that contained her to shake Bella's hand. "If she doesn't eat people, what does she eat?"

"She's a vegetarian, like us, aren't you Lorelei," Jade said fondly, scratching the tentacle.

"The first human beings we get down here," said a new, unfamiliar voice to belonging to another mantis whom Bella hadn't noticed standing behind them in the shadows, "and we tell them that basically our pet is harmless. Good job."

Bella guessed that this was the mantis was the other one from earlier, the one who had been holding the gun.

"Yeah, well, we aren't all sadistic like you are Raanan," Mirte said indifferently, making the mantis named Raanan shrug.

"Regardless," Raanan said moving to Bella, "I am impressed that you haven't freaked out yet."

Bella shrugged. "You guys aren't the first aliens that I have ever seen."

"I was talking about Lorelei, but okay," Raanan laughed, "so planet Earth is finally travelling across the stars then?"

"No," Bella told him, "As a planet we have still only got as far as the moon, we just keep getting invaded."

"By what?" asked Jade, alarmed.

"Daleks, Slitheen, Cybermen, you name it, they've all tried."

"Good thing we are stuck down here, then." Raanan said bitterly.

"You're stuck?" Bella asked, "How?"

"We crash landed here eight-hundred years ago, before the church was built over the top of us," Mirte explained, "The crash did unspeakable amounts of damage to our ship that we still cannot repair."

"We had thought that there would have been enough power to get us going by now," Raanan said, obviously stressed about their current predicament.

"But it isn't, is it?" Bella deduced sadly. "That explains the power shortages the city's been experiencing lately," she added, looking to Angelo, who nodded.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Raanan said gingerly, "my fault."

"You don't need to apologise," Bella said earnestly.

"Now why do I get the feeling that you and the Doctor didn't just happen to come across my cathedral by chance?" Angelo asked Bella with his eyebrows raised.

Bella looked to him sheepishly. "We saw your interview on the midday news and we caught sight of one of these guys in the background." She admitted. "But what the Doctor said when we first met wasn't a lie; I really haven't been to this part of London before, and I really do love old places."

"I know," Angelo said with a slight smile, "I could see that when you saw the interior of the cathedral."

Bella smiled at him before she turned back to the three wonderful aliens. "So it sounds as though you need some serious help getting your ship back up and running."

"Yeah," Raanan laughed. "I don't suppose you know any alien geniuses who can rebuild an alien space ship's major engine, do you?"

Bella gave him a breathtaking smile. "Actually, now that you mention it, I know the perfect man."

-o-

The Doctor followed his now beeping screwdriver to what he hoped was the middle of these aliens secret underground lair. He was in a foul mood now and no matter how hard he tried to calm himself down he couldn't, not after Bella being taken by the owners of a very large squid that had killed Reverend Balin. He found it very difficult to see what they could possibly need her for, considering that _most_ humanoid bug-like aliens were plant-eaters, not carnivores. Though, there were always exceptions.

_Just once_, he sighed to himself_, I would like to meet a group of aliens on Earth that didn't want to invade it_. It would make a nice change, a little bit refreshing and a completely new experience for him; an alien race that he didn't have to fight. It would have been good, but they had taken something that meant an incredible amount to him; his best friend. That crossed a line that just should not be crossed.

He walked around a corner and stopped. _A dead end_? Not likely, not with his sonic beeping as crazily as it was. He stepped forward, hearing the others whispering to each other in confusion, and felt the wall on his left with his hand until he found what he was looking for; a metal flap.

Flicking the flap up he found a small control panel that operated the hidden door. "Now we are talking!" the Doctor said before pushing the round, green button and the wall in front of them slid open to reveal a truly amazing sight.

A grey metal ship that had a strange green shine to it was parked in an infinite sized room, the Doctor unable to guess how big the underground room actually was. The ship itself was as big, if not bigger, than the London Eye itself and its shape was that of a hexagon and on the side closest to him the name "The Emerald Mantis" was written in big bold letters. The Doctor's mouth had fallen open at the sheer beauty of the ship and he couldn't remember seeing anything like it apart from in story books from when he was a young child.

"Doctor, they're all looking at us," said Isaac behind him.

The Doctor tore his eyes away from the magnificent space craft and looked to all the two-hundred odd green, humanoid praying mantises, his original anger returning to him. These were the beings who had taken Bella against her will. Not a smart move.

"There are so many of them," Mia gasped, truly sounding terrified now.

The Doctor stepped forward without a hint of hesitation, looking at the large crowd in front of him that was full off men, women and children, all of whom were staring at this pink-skinned, thin man who had outrageous hair with shocked expressions.

"You have someone that doesn't belong down here with you," the Doctor said, his voice full of deep anger, "and I would highly recommend that you give her back."

Everyone continued to stare bewildered at him, which angered him even more.

"I am not a man that you should contemplate making angry," he said dangerously, the mantises closest to him shifting uncomfortably, unsure of what was going on, "which you have already done so I would be _very_ careful what you do from now on, because if you have hurt Bella in any way I will do _everything_ in my power to bring whatever it is that you are doing down here to a stop. I used to be such a patient, forgiving man but all of you invading aliens put a stop to that. I am a one-chance type of guy – the Oncoming Storm – and you've already blown it, now WHERE IS SHE?" he finished with a furious yell.

There was a frightened gasp from the crowd before a gentle voice said "Doctor!"

The Doctor looked to his right, following the familiar voice that was saying "excuse me, sorry, pardon me sir," until Bella emerged from in between two mantises, looking at the Doctor with a concerned expression.

"I told you this guy was protective!" said one of the mantises that had followed Bella through the crowd, and he received an elbow to the ribs from the mantis beside him.

"I'm here," Bella said quickly, nervousness in her voice, "I'm fine, look, I'm fine." She walked quickly towards him, watching him closely.

"Did the hurt you?" he asked scathingly, shooting a glance at the aliens surrounding them.

"No!" she said instantly, upset by seeing the Doctor like this. "Doctor, I'm fine, they're fine, and you can relax."

He looked at her sceptically and she frowned.

"Doctor," she said gently, "would I ever lie to you?"

"No," he answered roughly.

"Do you trust me?" she whispered.

"Always," he said softly and she gave him a small relieved smile.

"Then you can trust them," she said confidently. "They are fine – more than that, they are wonderful!" she grinned.

"So why do they own a reverend-eating-sea-monster as a pet?" he asked, the scepticism returning.

"Uh, about that," Bella said awkwardly, "you know how humans can never give good eye-witness accounts of what they saw because imagination creeps in; well apparently Nealonians aren't that great at it either, so I have a double dose of sucking at it because Angelo wasn't actually eaten."

The Doctor glanced at the gap that Bella had created in the crowd and found a familiar black-robed figure smiling at him.

"Hello," Angelo said warmly.

"Oh my –"Tristian began but Bella spoke over the top of him.

"-mother's giddy aunt, exactly!" said Bella seriously. "It turns out that the giant squid is nicer than I thought and she saved Angelo's life and took him to Jade and Mirte –"the two mantises behind her gave a light hearted wave "- who got him cleaned up and checked over. Had I not assumed the worse and freaked out like a big _girl_, I would have discovered all of this because Lorelei was trying to help me too."

The Doctor looked at Bella, her eyes alight with excitement. He wasn't quite sure what to say. "So – uh, they weren't holding you against your will?"

She shook her head. "Lorelei must have seen how upset I got when she took Angelo that she told Jade and Mirte, so Mirte and Raanan came to get me so they could show me that Angelo was alive and well. They could have just politely asked, but it doesn't matter now – it was just a slight miscommunication."

"I didn't know what else to do," said one of the two mantises that had waved earlier.

"Mirte, it's fine," Bella smiled, looking to the mantis, who nodded guiltily.

"Right," the Doctor said slowly, his anger having disappeared to have been replaced by guilt, "and why are they living under London?"

"Ah, well, that's the part that I am up to," Bella said, "I only just got the basics of what has happened, with the promise of more detail when I found you and here you are! Here's hoping they didn't find your little – uh, 'Oncoming Storm' speech too offending…"

The Doctor looked around guiltily. "I am really sorry about that, he said awkwardly, running his hand through his hair, embarrassed about his mistake. "It's just, when you come across a race of aliens hiding under one of the oldest buildings in London and they kidnap your best friend, I sort of jump to the wrong conclusion sometimes; I've had a rather checkered past with this type of thing happening –"

"We understand, Doctor," said a new voice and the Doctor looked to his left and found a particularly large mantis wearing red velvet robes instead of the common green ones. "Bella told me very briefly about some of you _altercations_ with aliens and this world. And your words from before; Mirte already warned me that you were protective of your friend, so it was expected. Next time, Raanan and Mirte know to act more civilised, don't you boys?"

"Yes, my lord," said Mirte and Raanan quietly sounding embarrassed.

"This is King Arawn, Doctor," Bella said with a smile.

"Always meeting high status beings aren't you?" the Doctor said under his breath, making Bella bite her lip to stop herself from laughing as Arawn walked towards them.

"They all seem to know of my grandfather," she said quietly back, "so once you name drop, there's no going back!"

"Pleasure to meet you," the Doctor grinned as her warmly shook the king's hand.

The mantis smiled.

"What is it that I can do for you?" the Doctor asked.

"Bella told us she knew an alien genius and that that alien genius was you," Arawn said as the Doctor glanced down to Bella who blushed ever-so-slightly, "Doctor, we desperately need your help but for that you need all the information we have. Please, come to my office where we can speak freely about delicate matters."

"Lead on," the Doctor said with a grin, "Allons-y!"

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><p><strong><em>Author's note: I just wanted to give you some extra information about the charater names in this chapter (lol cause that's just how I choose names for my episodes). All the Mantises names have meanings that refer to the colour green i.e. in Dutch Mirte means ever-green, in hebrew Raanan means fresh green. The only mantises name that doesn't refer to green is Arawn's, which in Welsh means 'king of the other world' which I found to be rather fitting. I even chose the names for the human's with meanings that fitted their personality, for example Mia means in Scandinavian Sea of bitterness and in Hebrew, Isaac means 'one who will laugh'. Let me know what you think!<em>**


	7. Chapter 7:The Tale of the Emerald Mantis

**_Author'a note: Just a bit of a short chapter this time, just to get some of the facts straight. And just to let you know, I have the greatest respect for archaeologists. Just saying! Let me know your thoughts :D_**

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><p>CH7 The Tale of the Emerald Mantis<p>

The Doctor strode around the king's study, adoring the books and the odd alien trinkets that Arawn had obviously accumulated over his years of travelling across the stars.

"This is brilliant!" he gushed happily, "_Molto bene_! How long have you been here anyway?"

The king sat behind his desk, watching the Doctor walk around admiring all his possessions as he walked past Bella, who was sitting on a chair beside a standing Raanan, then Jade, Mirte and Angelo before finally moving past the group of nervous humans who were standing beside the door, wondering why they were there.

"Eight-hundred years," Arawn said, standing up and moving slowly to the bookcase that was behind Bella and Raanan.

"Eight-hundred years?" the Doctor repeated, obviously shocked. 'You landed here in the year 1209, eleven years before the cathedral was built?"

"Ah, Southwark Cathedral was built _between_ 1220 and 1420, Doctor," Angelo pointed out knowledgeably.

"It was built in 1220 in August and September, the '_built between_' rubbish came about because the archaeologists didn't want to commit to a certain date in case some evidence popped up and it turned out that they were wrong!" the Doctor said before adding, "even though they are always getting things wrong!"

Bella smirked, thinking of that doctor River Song the Doctor had met at the Library that he had mentioned a few times and she hoped that he hadn't been too insufferable towards her.

"Well, in this instance they _didn't_ get it wrong, did they?" Bella smiled at him as Arawn pulled out a very old, thick book from the bookcase.

"Yes they did," the Doctor argued stubbornly, "there is a two-hundred year gap; archaeologists always go for a hundred years either side of their estimate, meaning that they thought Southwark Cathedral was built in 1320, which it most certainly was not because I was there!" He said looking at Bella in his usual obstinate, unyielding way. "They always get it wrong – except Pompeii… they were alarmingly accurate with Pompeii…"

Bella watched as a dark, troubled expression crossed her best friend's face, knowing all too well that what he had done at Pompeii with Donna Noble still haunted him.

"Anyway," he said, suddenly cheerful again, "where were we?"

"I just told you that we arrived here eight-hundred years ago," Arawn said as he gave the A4-sized book in his hands to Bella beside him and she opened it eagerly to read whatever it was that was inside. "Only, I wouldn't use the term _landed_."

"You crashed," the Doctor guessed.

"In a very big way," Arawn nodded sadly.

"You're still alive," Alice asked suddenly and everyone turned to look at her. Her face flushed red as she tried to explain her strange observation. "What I mean is, have you actually been alive for eight-hundred years?"

Technically I am eight-hundred and thirty-five," Arawn said smiling. "I was twenty-five when my Grandfather crashed here."

"So you have super long lifespans then?" Isaac asked excitedly, making the Doctor exchange a grin with Bella.

"Not at all," Arawn admitted, seemingly to not be fazed by the curiosity coming from the humans, "for most of our eight-hundred years here we have been kept in suspended animation, which is the freezing, if you will, of our bodies to keep us the same age for long periods of time. It is usually only used for long flights across the galaxies, but we have used it here because we were unsure of the odd surroundings above us. We used to wake up once every couple of months, some mantises only waking every few years, to check on our machines and undertake the necessary maintenance work."

"But?" the Doctor asked, feeling as though something along those lines was coming next.

"But we were all woken up early by our machines," he explained, definite undertones of concern in his voice now. "They had all burnt out, the energy we had been using all these long years being all used up and we were unable to get back into our inert states again."

"When did this happen?" the Doctor asked.

"Four months ago," Arawn replied. "We had hoped to wake up fully when Earth was ready to share their planet and help us get home, but because of the problems with the machines, this can no longer happen."

"And you'll be waiting around for a while," the Doctor admitted sadly. "Unfortunately the majority of the humans still can't quite accept that they aren't the only ones in the universe.

Arawn laughed. "Most of us started off like that!"

"Yes, but humans are particularly reluctant to let go of the thought," Bella murmured as she sat reading and Arawn shrugged, supposing that she was probably right.

"Why were you near Earth though?" the Doctor asked curiously.

Arawn sighed. "We were on our way back from war unfortunately."

"With whom?" the Doctor said.

"Something called the Ice Warriors," Bella said, reading out of the book in her lap.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "The Ice Warriors? How did that end for you?"

"Rather well actually, considering that it was the Ice Warriors," Arawn admitted. "We went to the aid of one of our small colonies just outside of this solar system. Apparently four Ice Warriors landed on their planet, tried to take over, you know what they are like," he said, the Doctor nodding in agreement. "We arrived and the odds were against them one thousand to one and they fled. Then we left to head back home, except it wasn't there."

"Wasn't there," the Doctor repeated, not sure if he had heard him correctly, "A planet can't just vanish."

"I know," Arawn said, agreeing with the Doctor, "But when we got back to the exact point in space that our planet should have been, there was nothing; no trace as to where it could have gone. We asked our neighbouring planets and they said that it had been there one moment and gone the next."

"That's impossible," Mia scowled.

"'_After learning nothing from our neighbouring planets, my son and grandson, together with the rest of the fleet made our way for the Shadow Proclamation_,'" Bella said, reading directly from the book in her lap in a clear, precise voice.

"Your grandfather's words?" the Doctor assumed and Arawn nodded in answer.

"'_Yet we never made it to our chosen destination_,'" Bella continued. "'_As we came to Sol-three, we noticed another ship in the distance. It had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and we tried to get into contact with them to see if they posed any threat, but it was impossible and the results were disastrous. A moment later and they had open fired with their strange, alien weapons. Both of my other ships were destroyed in minutes, as they had been closest to the enemy ship and we were severely damaged. With our engines failing to function we fell for what felt like an eternity to the land on Sol-three and we were buried there in the earth beneath some kind of alien city that was inhabited by fleshy-beings. Here we must wait and I will never forget that alien ship. If I shall ever return into space I will seek my revenge…_'"

Bella turned the page and looked at what had been drawn there. She knew what it was immediately; she'd seen the kind of ship before, a little over a year ago now. She looked up to the Doctor, holding the book so he could see the drawing too.

"It was the Daleks," she said hollowly.

The Doctor's stomach dropped uncomfortably, everything making a bit more sense now. "Of course," he whispered.

"The Daleks?" asked Arawn sharply as a ripple of fear spread through the other mantises. "I thought they were meant to be trapped in the Time War with the Time Lords?"

"They escaped," the Doctor said darkly, "they always escape! They took planets from their places in the universe – snatched them out of both time and space to create a Reality Bomb, powered by twenty-seven planets."

"What does it do?" Raanan asked hesitantly, as if unsure whether he wanted to know the answer or not.

"It was designed to reduce everything to atoms by cancelling out the electoral field that binds everything in life together. Using the rift in the Medusa Cascade they could have wiped out every universe, every parallel world, _everything_ in existence, but I stopped them and we sent all the planets back to where they belonged and the Daleks were destroyed." He paused, thinking that he'd seen the last of the Daleks, but they always seemed to return. "But, that also means that your home planet would be back in its proper place."

"And the mantises who were there at the time?" asked Arawn stiffly.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor said truthfully.

There was a worried silence before Bella closed the book loudly and stood up. "Don't you see that this is a good thing?" she asked, looking to Arawn. "You wanted me to find you an expert on alien engines, which I have _and_ your planet has been returned to where it belongs."

"And what if no one lives?" Arawn asked rather harshly, but Bella didn't recoil as the Doctor had expected her to.

"At least there is hope now –"

"What use is hope?" snapped Arawn angrily. "The Daleks are a cruel and merciless race –"

"Earth was stolen too," Bella said gently, yet with enough strength and authority to silence the king. "Yes people were hurt, yes people were killed, but it is too my understanding that the majority of us were left alive – terrified, but generally unharmed because the Daleks wanted to see all of us go at once after they had destroyed the rest of the universe. There is a high chance that they did the same to your kind too."

Arawn nodded. "You are right, we should hope for the best. But how are we meant to get our engines going again, they've almost been destroyed, we've tried everything we can think of!"

"This is where I come in, Arawn." The Doctor said with a smile. "You haven't been able to get your engines going because you didn't have me, just lead the way and I'll work my magic!"

"I suppose you can try, Doctor," Arawn said slowly as he moved towards him. "Keep hold of that one," he whispered to the Doctor, glancing over his shoulder at Bella. "She's not bad for a Nealonian!"


	8. Chapter 8: On A Deadline

**_Author's note: I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get this chapter up, I've had issues with my net connection. Anyways, this chapter is a bit longer than average and I am sorry in advance for the ending! I hope you enjoy!_**

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><p>Bella followed the Doctor and Arawn, the former walking out in front with an excited grin on his face. He would run off to the side to examine something, exclaiming as he did so ("Brilliant! A laser that cooks a full three-course dinner in a matter of seconds!") before coming back to join the group, still grinning.<p>

"There are so many children," Bella observed as young children ran around near them, playing a game that looked like one she had watched children at her own primary school play when she was younger. "Are they playing 'catch and kiss'?"

Arawn turned and gave a warm smiled. "Children all born on your planet."

"Just because they are a different species, doesn't mean that they are _that_ different." The Doctor said, grinning.

"I know," Bella nodded her focus now on the ginormous spaceship that was before them and the Doctor moved forward to climb up into the open part on the underside of the ship.

Everyone else came to a stop just under the spaceship, some wearing a more unbelieving expression than others.

"This is amazing!" Tristian said quietly, Alice nodding in agreement.

"It's just like a _Star Wars_ film," Isaac said excitedly.

"It's like the _Millennium Falcon_," Angelo said in awe.

Bella grinned at the reverend before the Doctor jumped down out of the ship, still smiling.

"How bad is it?" Raanan asked.

"There is a lot of damage," the Doctor admitted, his smile disappearing for a few moments before reappearing, brighter than ever, "but it's nothing I can't handle. It's lucky I popped in for a visit really." He grinned again.

"You can fix it?" Jade asked nervously.

"Oh yes!" the Doctor said loudly, clapping his hand together.

"And you have a plan as well, don't you?" Bella assumed with a crooked smile.

"Always!" he grinned before adding, "Well, mostly always. Well, mostly I always go along with whatever's happening then I think of a plan right at the end, just in time, but not today!" he finished triumphantly.

Bella laughed as everyone else stared at him.

"What is it?" Arawn asked.

"Hmm?" the Doctor said, looking to him.

"The plan, what is it?"

"Oh, the plan!" the Doctor said seriously. "Okay, so Bella and I will rebuild the engine, while any mechanics, ship-builders or particularly strong human lads work on fixing any damage on the ship that hasn't already been dealt with while you Arawn and Angelo, tell everyone to gather their things and start to load them on board. Tell them that you are finally going home."

Arawn smiled as Jade and Mirte gave a cheer at the Doctor's words.

"And how does the ship get out?" Mia asked sceptically.

"Yeah," Bella agreed considering that that was the one thing that the Doctor had failed to mention. "I mean, the Emerald Mantis isn't like the TARDIS, it can't just dematerialise, can it?"

The Doctor shook his head and pointed up, Bella looking up too, seeing nothing but stone and rock.

"That's their way out." The Doctor said excitedly.

"Woah, hold it!" Bella said with her arms raised in the '_stop_' motion. "You are _not_ draining the Thames _again_!"

The Doctor shook his head again, rolling his eyes this time and moved to Bella's side. "Look up more carefully this time."

High above them was a glossy, blue, see-through roof which had dark, murky water on the other side of it. It was similar, if not exactly the same as the other one that kept Lorelei the giant squid in her little trap door room.

"It's a selective force field, selective in that it only allows certain things through it," the Doctor explained.

"Oh, well that's a much better plan then!" Bella admitted and the Doctor grinned at her. "Someone is going to have to go and get Lorelei though…"

"Can I help you and Bella, Doctor?" Isaac asked and they looked over to him. "It's just, I'm a mechanic by trade, so the thought of being able to actually work on an alien engine isn't one that I want to pass up!" he finished excitedly.

"And I can use my wielding experience to help patch up the ship," Tristian said, obviously eager to help too.

"Could I help Reverend Angelo?" Alice asked. "I would really like to meet as many mantises as possible in case the chance never comes again!"

The Doctor grinned happily, loving the fact that these humans were so excited to be helping aliens and he turned to Mia.

"I'll help Tristian," she said, not as enthusiastically as he would have liked, but still happy that she was at least making an effort.

"Brilliant, everybody lives! Blimey, I haven't said that in a while." The Doctor said, surprised with himself before Bella's mobile phone went off in her still damp jeans pocket, and Bella looked up to the Doctor with a confused stare. "What?" he asked.

"Doctor, I fell into a pool of freezing cold water," she said in an incredulous tone as she retrieved her still beeping phone from her pocket and held it out in her hand.

"Oh," the Doctor said, realising what Bella was talking about. "That was just part of my jiggery-pokery that I did to it when we first met," he said indifferently, making Bella shake her head slightly.

She slid open her phone and read the message, her heart sinking.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked sharply, seeing the look on her face.

"It's from Jack," she said quietly. "I got another message from him earlier, saying that this whole situation was receiving a lot of media coverage, which in turn is getting Jack's attention as well as UNIT's too."

"What does this message say?" he asked her.

"'_Another alien has been seen on the surface,_'" Bella read, "'_UNIT is now on their way._'"

The Doctor looked at Bella who was biting her bottom lip.

"Is this bad?" Alice asked.

"Who is UNIT?" Tristian added.

"More importantly, how long do we have until UNIT comes bursting in here?" Bella asked the Doctor.

"Their closest headquarters is Tower of London; they'll bring everything they have, every member of personnel, their mobile HQ and maybe even Martha. I guess the upside is that they no longer have the Valiant that went down during the Dalek invasion." The Doctor told her, "We only have around seven minutes until they arrive at the cathedral."

Still biting her lip, Bella dialled a number on her phone, still shocked that it was working, yet grateful none the less, and spoke into it when someone answered. "Tell me what they are doing!"

"What is UNIT and why is she freaking out so much?" Mia asked, obviously feeling amusement at Bella's worried behaviour.

"Unified Intelligence Task Force," the Doctor said as he watched Bella pace backwards and forwards nervously, "they were formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Task Force –"

"You're Torchwood, Jack!" Bella said somewhat angrily. "Whatever happened to '_outside the government and beyond the police'_ rubbish, just hack into their systems and stop them from coming? Pretend you're some kind of government official or something, better yet; call in a favour from a government official?"

"They are located all over the world," the Doctor continued once Bella had fallen into silence again and she bit her finger tensely, "and they are dedicated to protect Earth from alien invasions and threats. '_Any threat. Any location. Protecting humanity no matter how far it takes us_,' that's their motto."

"It is not an invasion, Jack!" Bella said shrilly and the Doctor could hear undertones of fear.

"There are bases in Singapore, Geneva, France, Russia, New York and even an underwater base in Sydney Harbour, Australia." The Doctor continued. "They will literally do anything to save the human race from the possibility of an alien invasion, including the 'shoot first, ask questions later' scenario."

Everybody exchanged worried glances.

"But this isn't an invasion," Arawn said weakly, looking across to Bella.

"I know," the Doctor said, "UNIT has become very prejudice over the years because of all the alien that have come to Earth, the thought doesn't even seem to cross their minds anymore that aliens may crash land here genuinely. Well, not after the Slitheen's trick, at least…"

"Are you sure that's what they'll do?" they all heard Bella ask quietly. "Okay, thank you Jack."

The Doctor watched as she slid her phone shut and he looked at her expectantly.

"UNIT has just arrived," she said, looking directly at him, her eyes worried. "Gwen has been trying to convince some guy called Ingram that there was no threat here, that it was all just a bunch of teenagers trying to scare the United Kingdom seeing as it is Christmas and all, but this guy wouldn't have a bar of it. He said that their plan of attack was to overtake the alien threat before they had the chance to destroy Earth and that they would proceed as normal upon his arrival to the site."

_This didn't sound like it was going to end well_, the Doctor said in his mind.

"The good thing for us is that this major bloke is currently stuck at the Mount Snowdon base waiting for the snow and ice to be melted off the helicopters and helipad and the UNIT grunts have been instructed not to move in until he gets here." Bella explained. "We have thirty minutes," she added in a somewhat hopeful voice.

"Thirty minutes?" the Doctor repeated, "Meh, I've had less time than that before. Right!" he exclaimed, glancing up at the spaceship. "Everyone has a job to do, let's get it done!"

Bella sat in the engine room holding two wires apart while the Doctor worked somewhere beneath her with Isaac as Mirte sat near her, welding an internal part of the wall back together.

"So," Bella said conversationally to Mirte, who didn't stop what he was doing, "Any relation to Earth Praying Mantises?"

"Distant cousins," he said loudly over the sound of the welding gun before turning it off and pushing his protective visor back to look at her, "_very_ distant."

Bella grinned. "Cool!" she laughed.

"We're not that cool," Mirte said quietly, as if to himself as he examined his work.

"Not that cool?" Bella repeated, "You're a species of humanoid Praying Mantises, of course you're cool!"

Mirte gave her a proud grin as the Doctor's head popped up, his brainy specs on and his sonic screwdriver at the ready. Bella watched him fuse the two wires that she was holding together, his tongue poking out to the side in concentration before he knocked a piece of piping with a hammer that he seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

"Alright Isaac," he called loudly and the engine gave a sick sounding _chug _before falling silent again. "Ooh, that wasn't what I wanted to here." He said before disappearing again.

Bella shook her head slightly, wondering if it was even possible to get the engines working and get everyone on board and out of here before UNIT burst in.

"Doctor," said the voice of Raanan somewhere below them, "we have a bit of a problem with the secondary engine."

"Well, that doesn't sound too encouraging," she heard the Doctor say in answer unenthusiastically. "What's wrong with it?"

"I think you'd better come and have a look," Raanan said.

The Doctor sighed before popping his head up to Bella. "Would you mind having a look for me?" he asked her quietly. "I am nearly done here then I will come over."

"I can do that," Bella said as she slid forward to the Doctor, who helped her climb through the various engine parts. She dropped out of the ship's hull and the Doctor handed her to Raanan.

"Lead the way," she said happily and Raanan gave her a smile.

They walked side-by-side down the length of the ship, past the ever-shortening line of mantises waiting to board their ship to finally go back to their home planet until they reached the tail of the ship, where Tristian could be seen welding with Mia standing a safe distance away.

"What's happened?" Bella asked as they approached.

"Raanan and I were welding these holes back together when we discovered a small problem with the secondary engine." Tristian explained, pointing to the small hole on the hull of the ship that was just above his head.

"What does this engine do?" Bella asked, looking to Raanan.

"As well as being that back-up engine should the first fail, it also provides the air regulation and the heating." Raanan told her grimly.

"So it's quite important then," Bella said smiling crookedly.

"Yeah, you could say that," Raanan laughed.

"What a stupid thing to say," Mia said moodily, "Of course it would be important, otherwise they wouldn't have put it in!"

Bella exchanged an awkward glance with Raanan before he placed his hand on her lower back to move her closer to the ship.

"Shall we?" he asked and Bella nodded.

He helped her climb into the cold, metal hull, which was much smaller down this end compared to the main engine compartment. Feeling grateful that she wasn't claustrophobic, she knelt over a part of the black engine, finding a lot of wires that had been broken in to two.

"Well, here's your problem," Bella called, "all of your wires have been severed."

"Can you fix it?" she heard Raanan call back.

"I should be able to," she said as she moved back towards the man-hole, "It's the same problem that the Doctor is dealing with up in the first engine," she explained as she leant out the hole, poking her head out so she could see the others. "All I need is the Doctor's sonic and I'll have this done in no time."

"Brilliant," Raanan grinned, obviously relieved.

"Mia, can you do us a favour and run back to the Doctor and ask him for his sonic screwdriver please?" Bella asked extra nicely, knowing all too well that Mia was probably going to tell her to do it herself.

"Why me?" she asked sourly.

"You're not doing anything else are you?" Bella asked, seeing Mia scowl spitefully at her before she turned and walked in the direction of the primary engine.

"Thank you!" yelled Bella.

She wasn't doing this for Bella; she was doing it so they could get out of here quicker. Ever since the Doctor and Bella had joined their tour group things had gone from bad to worse. They had been down in these alien tunnels for nearly five hours now and she was cold and filthy. She hadn't even wanted to go to Southwark Cathedral in the first place; she's only done that to keep Tristian happy; she'd rather be back at her parents' house playing chess in front of a roaring fire with him, and only him.

She sighed. "Doctor," she said lazily as she approached the exterior entrance to the primary engine room, just in time to see the Doctor jump from the hole in the ship.

"Yes Mia," he said happily, looking to her with a big grin, "What can I do for you?"

"Bella needs your screwdriver-y-thing," Mia said indifferently, unaffected by the Doctor's usually contagious grin. "Apparently she needs it to re-join wires or something."

The Doctor nodded and reached into his overcoat, pulling out a long metal instrument that Mia didn't think looked even remotely like a screwdriver and giving it to her. "Bella knows what frequency to use, tell her I'll be down in a minute, I just need to finish off here."

Mia scowled, wanting very much to say that she wasn't a messenger pigeon, but turned on her heel and began walking back towards the others wordlessly.

"Thank you," the Doctor said in almost the same condescending way as Bella had done before.

Gritting her teeth, Mia stalked away, unaware that the Doctor watched her go with slightly narrowed eyes.

_There was something not quite right about this man_, Mia thought to herself as she walked. He had said earlier that he had been at the cathedral whilst it was being built, which she knew was a downright lie, but Bella had called him an expert on alien machines and he had a strange piece of equipment that didn't look overly human.

And then there was Bella herself. _So many strange things about that girl_, she thought with a frown. She was far too blasé about the fact that they were running around with aliens, not to mention she was too… nice. The king alien (Arawn was his name) had supposedly known her grandfather and referred to her as something called a _Nealonian_, which Mia had found to be rather strange and Bella had referred to the human race as _they_.

Mia suddenly came to a stop after seeing what looked like some kind of oil on the ground beside some wooden crates. She bit her lip, wondering if she should tell someone about the spill, thinking that it could be potentially very harmful. _Why should I though_, she thought to herself darkly, she didn't even like the aliens and she thought they probably lied about the whole crash landing thing, that they were secretly trying to invade and take over the world like so many others had done. She didn't want to help them escape only to have them tell the universe about how thick humans were, no, she wanted to help these UNIT people that Bella were so frightened of, help them to protect the planet, help them to destroy all alien threats.

But how could she do that? She was all alone, everyone else seemed to have been hoodwinked by the green mantises, her friends even _liked_ them. Her eyes passed over the boxes where she saw something that she recognised from earlier in the tunnels; a gun like one of the mantises had used on Bella. She looked around nervously. Sure, she didn't like these aliens, but could she really be the one to bring them down?

Bella jumped down from the magnificent ship and straightened up. "Where has Mia got too?"

"Don't be surprised if she doesn't come back," Tristian said sadly, "she doesn't like you overly much."

Bella frowned. "I gathered as much."

"Oh well, she doesn't seem like the type that gets along with anyone." Raanan observed, making Bella bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

"That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Tristian said stiffly before adding with a shrug, "But she can be real anti-social at times –"

A sudden, loud explosion from midway between them and the other end of the ship blasted before a fire seemed to break out, emitting a lot of grey smoke rising high into the air.

"Finish that welding Tristian," Bella said before running forward, Raanan close behind her. They ran towards the smoke, both of them concerned that the explosion had been caused by the engine and that people had been hurt, but as they dodged a pile of burning crates that fell towards them they both skidded to a stop.

Mia was standing facing them, holding up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to a burning pool of some kind of liquid that was obviously flammable on the floor beside them.

"Oil," Raanan whispered and Bella nodded slightly before inching slowly forwards.

"Mia, give me the sonic." She said calmly, holding out her hand in front of her wondering what Mia was playing at and if it was even possible that the sonic could set oil on fire; she'd never seen the Doctor do it, but then she had to remind herself that the Doctor wasn't overly violent, like Mia seemed to be, nor was he a pyrotechnic.

Mia slowly looked away from the flames. "You want this piece of alien technology back do you?"

Bella could hear that something was off in her voice, a kind of hysteria and Bella suddenly felt nervous. "What's wrong Mia?" she asked slowly and she stopped walking forward. _Something must have happened_, Bella thought with a frown, _either that or it's a very delayed reaction to the situation that they were in_.

"What's wrong?" Mia laughed rudely and Bella felt Raanan move closer to her. "I am surrounded by foul aliens that's what's wrong! Foul aliens who have brainwashed my friends into thinking that they're kind, gentle souls who would never hurt another living being!"

Bella felt Raanan tense beside her.

"We would never –"

"Whatever," Mia laughed unbelievingly. "I learnt all about praying mantises in school you know, and they're not that gentle. They'll eat anything from small insects to small snakes if they're big enough, imagine what this lot will eat! I bet their giant squid isn't a _pet _if you get my meaning! They're predators, you know, they'll hide and wait for their unsuspecting prey to get close enough and then BAM – dinner!"

"Enough," Bella said, shocked by Mia's manic behaviour, "you're making a fool out of yourself."

"Of course you would stand up for them," Mia said bitterly as she threw the sonic at Bella rather forcefully. "Tell me, what exactly is a Nealonian, only I don't think it's something from Africa?"

Bella's stomach churned uncomfortably and Raanan shifted guiltily.

"I heard _their king_ call you it," Mia continued spitefully.

Bella remained silent, placing the sonic in the inside pocket of the Doctor's jacket that she was still wearing from earlier. "Raanan," she said eventually, "Go and make sure everyone is on board and ready to go."

"But –"

"This hasn't got anything to do with you know," Bella whispered, looking to him, "go!"

Raanan hesitated before running back around the fire and hopefully to get Tristian or someone.

"You said that they knew your grandfather, I heard you tell the Doctor," Mia said, hardly even noticing that Raanan was no longer with them, her eyes never straying from Bella's, "So I reckon that he was alien too, the same as the Doctor, the same as you." She finished, pulling a familiar looking gun from out of one of her pockets.

Bella took in a surprised gulp of air and held up her arms in a shocked surrender.

"Surrounded by aliens I am," Mia said quietly and Bella remained silent, wondering how she was going to get herself out of this one, "These green monsters, your Doctor somebody who doesn't even have a name and you. We all trusted you –"

"Did you?" Bella asked before she could stop herself, "I don't think you have trusted the Doctor and me at all this whole time."

"No I didn't, but you've made everyone else trust you, didn't you?" Mia asked furiously. "You didn't tell us that you were aliens before dragging us into this hell!"

"You didn't ask," Bella said stiffly.

"Didn't ask?" repeated Mia angrily, brandishing the gun around. "We shouldn't have to ask, this is _our_ planet!"

Bella looked away painfully. "Sorry, but I am feeling very confused; what is it that the Doctor, the mantises and I have done to you in this particular instance?"

"This is our planet, why can't you just go home and leave us alone?"

"This _is_ my home." Bella said dangerously, looking back up to Mia. "I grew up here, I had a childhood here, I've made first-best friends here, and I've lost _family_ here! This is where I was born and this is the place that I am going to die!"

Mia seemed to falter for a moment, obviously unsure if Bella was telling the truth or not. "You're lying!" she accused.

"Am I?" Bella asked, with the smallest hint of spite in her voice.

Mia shook her head in a confused-like way, the gun in her hand rising slightly. "It doesn't matter now," she said quietly. "I've done enough, these UNIT people will be here any minute and we'll – us humans – will be safe from you invading aliens."

"You don't understand," Bella said, her anger turning into frustration now, "These are probably one of the only group of aliens that have come to Earth with good intentions, trust me, they don't want to you and neither do the Doctor and I. In fact, you owe your life to the Doctor, everyone on this planet does!"

Mia looked at her doubtfully, looking uncomfortable with the gun still in her hands.

"You know that spaceship that crashed into Big Ben? Or how about the battle of Canary Wharf? The Christmas Star? Harold Saxon? The little things made out of fat? All those planets in the sky? Well, the Doctor and his friends stopped them all, and if it wasn't for him we'd all be dead!"

"I don't care," Mia stated flatly and Bella believed her. "I think I agree with how UNIT runs things; wiping out alien threats for the protection of Earth."

"Please –"Bella managed to gasp before Mia pulled the trigger of the alien ray gun. She managed to jump sideways out of harm's way as the ray shot past her, hitting the pile of wooden crates behind her. She looked back to Mia and saw that she looked completely insane now as she continuously shot the crates, as if letting out all of her anger and rage.

"Mia, stop!" cried Bella, genuinely afraid now; behind the pile of wooden crates stood the four machines that had kept the mantises alive for eight hundred years, if Mia managed to hit one of those, the whole place could be consumed in an explosion. "The machines –"she tried to warn.

Mia stopped shooting and turned, pointing the gun at Bella again, who had a mix of emotions running through her mind; she was relieved that Mia had stopped shooting, yet she was now scared for her own life again and she was also feeling angry because what she had done to protect the Earth from her father and what she was now receiving in thanks for doing that.

"I could do it, you know." Mia whispered, her hand shaking.

"Then do it," Bella said levelly back.

Mia hesitated, looking into Bella's shining eyes before glancing to the machines through the now smouldering crates. She quickly made a decision, changing her target at the last minute, before turning and running as fast as she could away.


	9. Chapter 9: The Great Escape

**_Author's note: Wow, I am so sorry that this has taken me so long to get online, I feel really terrible about it. It was partly because of my internet not working and then partly because Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part two distracted me slightly. And when I say slightly, I mean majorly 'cause I started working on this Harry Potter OC that I created when I was like ten years old and it kept esculating... So, I am really sorry about such a long delay._**

**_So this is the second last chapter for this episode and it contains a few clues and references to what could be coming for the time travelling duo. There is a certain scene towards the very end of this episode that is written from the perspective of someone completely different that especially focuses on the future. It's just a glimpse of what is coming, I suppose. I wrote this particular scene whilst listening to Murray Gold's "Vale" that was featured on the second part of The Specials Soundtrack and featured in the End of Time, so that might give you an indication of the tone of the scene._**

**_Anyway, I will stop rambling so you can get on with reading! And am I going to publish this Harry Potter fanfiction that I've been working on? I am not sure yet..._**

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><p>The Doctor looked up from Alice's excited face (she'd been telling him about talking to all of the mantises she had had the pleasure in meeting) when an explosion further down the massive underground room sent a heat wave over them and smoke began to rise upwards.<p>

"Doctor," a distressed voice called a few moments later before they all saw Raanan running towards them, "Doctor!"

"What happened?" the Doctor said quickly, moving forwards to meet the tall mantis.

"It's Mia," Raanan said urgently, grabbing hold of one of the Doctor's arms before pulling him towards the smoke, "she's gone insane!"

"Insane?" repeated Angelo with a confused stare.

"She's just lit some oil that must have been leaking out of the ship on fire with your sonic device," Raanan explained hurriedly to the Doctor, not taking any notice of anyone else.

"Oh my word," Arawn gasped as there was an intake of breath from Alice and Isaac.

"She would never –"Isaac tried to say, but the Doctor spoke over the top of him.

"My sonic can't set oil on fire," he said quickly with a frown, "just like it can't triplicate the flammability of alcohol." He added, referring to the white lie he had come up with to try and trick the Slitheen in Downing Street.

"Doctor," Raanan said, obviously disapproving of the Doctor's tangent, "Bella told me to get everyone who hadn't made it on board yet in the ship –"

"Bella's there?" the Doctor yelped, wide eyed.

Raanan nodded, fear evident in his strange alien eyes. "Mia asked Bella about the Nealonians after Bella stood up for all us mantises, I think that Mia sounds as bad as the UNIT people."

The Doctor ran a hand over his face and through his hair, feeling his stress levels rising. "Make sure everyone is on board and ready to go –"

Another explosion, this time much bigger than the first made the ground tremble and there were screams from all around them. The flames now reached up to the force field ceiling and the Doctor suddenly ran forward into the smoke, unaware that everyone followed him.

He followed the smoke and the flames and he found Bella eventually, lying on her side underneath the metal ship, motionless. He ran over to her and gently rolled her over onto her back and found that she was covered in bruises and her jeans (and his lovely suit jacket) were singed.

"Bella?" he said quietly and she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, coughing.

"Is it bad," she started quietly as she held onto the Doctor's arms as he helped her sit up, looking him straight in the eye, "that I _still_ have said that I love you too?"

The Doctor's face broke into a large, sheepish grin as he looked to her feeling both overwhelmingly happy and relieved that she was okay at the same time. "I guess the cat's out of the bag now!"

Bella blushed and laughed softly before the Doctor suddenly leant forwards and placed his lips on hers, his hands on her face.

Taken completely off guard, yet definitely not complaining, Bella allowed herself to kiss him softly back until someone cleared their throat.

They both broke apart and looked around, the Doctor instantly standing in front of Bella protectively.

Mia stood a little way away from them; the alien gun that she had taken for her own raised and pointed directly at the Doctor's chest.

"I wondered how you managed to set the oil alight," the Doctor said conversationally, thinking that she had shot the oil.

"I tried your sonic-thing but it wouldn't work," Mia said indifferently, "but it doesn't matter now. How is she still alive? She was right beside those machines when I shot them…"

The Doctor glanced down to Bella, who was still sitting on the floor healing, the bruises becoming fainter and fainter by the second. "It is part of who she is," the Doctor said, looking back up to Mia. "Quite literally _part_ of who she is. Did Bella tell you that she was half human before you attempted to blow her up, along with the rest of us?"

Mia looked, startled, down to Bella. "She is still alien," she said, almost sounding frightened, "she still doesn't belong here."

Bella stood up and moved in front of the Doctor. "I don't know how you do it all the time, Doctor." She said quietly, her voice hollow and her eyes fixed on Mia.

"Do what?" he asked slowly, unsure of where this was going.

"Save them all the time," she said darkly, turning to him. "They don't appreciate it, they never say thanks. No matter what you do, who you lose, what you have to sacrifice in order to save them and this planet, they end up throwing it back in our faces. Maybe we should just let it happen, let the aliens invade, let _them_ deal with it for once, let them feel what it is like to lose almost everything for a change!"

The Doctor slowly took of one of her hands, thinking that he knew what Bella was talking about. He thought of all those he had lost in nine hundred and six years of time and space in this universe and parallel ones, because of the Daleks, the Sontarans, the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors and so many more. He'd lost his entire race, his friends and his family. And Bella had been right. Most of the time, no one thanked him, on most occasions hardly anyone knew that he was even involved, but that was how it was and that was how he liked it.

Mia stared at her, open-mouthed. "And you reckon _I'm_ mad!" she said spitefully, her forefinger dangerously close to the trigger. "You aliens are all the same, always the bad guys!"

"They aren't the bad guys, Mia."

The Doctor and Bella looked to their left and saw Tristian walking towards them covered in cuts and bruises.

"Tristian?" asked Mia as he walked to stand directly in front of the Doctor and Bella.

"Who is the one pointing the gun?" Tristian asked her sadly as both the Doctor and Bella grabbed one of his arms each and tried to pull him backwards, but he wouldn't move and pulling his arms out of their hands. "Who is the one who is trying to get both humans and aliens killed – your own friends and me?"

"Tristian," Mia pleaded, her gun still raised, "they're all the same!"

"No we aren't," said Arawn as he, Jade, Mirte, Raanan, Angelo, Isaac and Alice slowly surrounded Mia. "We are nothing like the aliens that your planet has encountered before and neither is the Doctor or Bella. It is only the minority of this universe that you need to worry about, the rest of us will stay away from Earth until we know you are ready, which I doubt will ever be in my lifetime!"

"Sometimes I think that it is us humans that are the monsters," Angelo said sadly, receiving an understanding smile from Arawn beside him.

Tristian walked forward holding out his hand and everyone held their breath. "Give me the gun, Mia."

Mia hesitated, looking at her boyfriend emotionally. Her hand was shaking violently and eventually she lowered the alien gun and Tristian wasted no time in taking it from her and placed it on the ground behind him, where Raanan rushed forward and picked it up.

As Mia covered her face with her still shaking hands and Tristian wrapped his arms around his now sobbing girlfriend offering quiet words of comfort, Bella let go of the Doctor's hand and began moving in the direction of the burning machines.

"What are you doing?" Angelo gasped.

Bella turned, looking around to him. "I still need to fix the secondary engine," she said, "otherwise no one is going anywhere and we'll _all_ be captured by UNIT."

"Arawn, get everyone on board," the Doctor instructed quickly, but the four tall mantises looked at them both hesitating. "Go!" he cried, "all that is left to do is get the secondary engine going and then you're free!"

Raanan moved forward and hugged the Doctor tightly, catching him off guard before moving to Bella, hugging her and kissing her softly on her cheek. "You both prove that there is good in your respective species, thank you!"

"Just go!" Bella laughed, rolling her eyes as Raanan grinned and moved back from her.

"Doctor, once we start our engines you'll only have ten minutes to get yourselves out before this room and all the tunnels are consumed with heat and flames." Arawn said seriously.

The Doctor nodded solemnly. "I know,"

"What?" Mia said angrily, "It took us over an hour to get down here!"

"Well, we would have had more time if UNIT weren't hot on our tail, wouldn't we?" Bella said sourly, shooting Mia a dark look before moving off and disappearing behind the burning machines, pulling out the sonic screwdriver from her pocket as she went.

"Don't worry about us," the Doctor dismissed, "Mirte showed me a layout of the secret passageways, we'll be out in no time."

Arawn nodded eventually. "Thank you so much, Doctor."

The Doctor grinned at him. "You are so welcome!"

"Thank her for us too, won't you?" Arawn said quietly.

"It will mean the world to her," the Doctor smiled, turning to face the humans, as the four mantises moved away towards the ramp that led into the ship. "Now, when I yell run, I want you all to run as fast as you can to that doorway over there." He said, pointing.

"You really know a shortcut then?" Isaac asked nervously.

"Of course I do, I'm the Doctor!" he said before someone yelled out his name.

"Doctor," called Mirte as he, Jade and Raanan stood in the spaceship's doorway as the ramp started to fold itself into the ship. "Come and visit us, yeah?"

The Doctor smiled. "Bella and I will be part of your welcoming committee."

The three mantises faces lit up as they grinned down at him before the door slid shut and a few moments later the Doctor ran in the same direction that Bella had, dodging flames and hot embers. Ahead of him he saw Bella hang from the underside of the ship before dropping down and raising the sonic above her head to close the hatch.

"It's done," she said as he approached her, "they can finally go home."

The Doctor smiled at her. "They wanted me to thank you."

Bella gave him a breathtaking smile. "Really?"

"Yep!" he said, popping the 'p'.

The engine above them chugged into life and the Doctor extended his arm to offer her his hand. "Time to run?" he asked.

"Time to run." She agreed, taking his hand and together they both began to run back towards the rest of their tour group.

"RUNNNN!" the Doctor yelled as they caught site of the others, who didn't hesitate to start running back towards the exit as the mighty alien ship began shuddering as the engines power moved through the massive ship.

When the Doctor and Bella had moved through the doorway, the Doctor slid to a stop, took the sonic screwdriver out of Bella's outstretched hand and soniced the stone door shut. He turned to the now waiting group, replaced his sonic in his overcoat and pulled out his torch. With a wide grin he said "Allons-y!" and took the lead, everyone following the Doctor at a sprint, knowing that they now had less than ten minutes to find their way out of the dark tunnels that had taken them an hour to get down, and that was without running into armed UNIT soldiers.

They ran until they came to a dead end and the Doctor brandished his sonic screwdriver at the wall and it slowly slid open.

"Come on, come on!" he said quietly and impatiently until it had finally opened enough for him and the others to squeeze through and they emerged in the room that had the out-of-place mistletoe growing from the roof.

"Alright!" exclaimed Isaac when everyone realised how close they were to the church.

Bella glanced down at her watch. "Keep going," she said and the Doctor instantly moved off out of the room, all of them sprinting the last leg of the tunnel until they reached the old Norman doorway.

The Doctor looked out of the gap and saw two men in familiar black uniforms that stood either side of the door, guns at the ready in their hands. Feeling angry at this, he raised his sonic and pointed it directly at a rectangular glass cabinet near the main doors to the church and eventually it smashed. As the foot soldiers ran towards it, the Doctor glanced down apologetically to Angelo, who (grimacing) shrugged and nodded, understanding what he had done and why he'd done it.

"Is there another exit?" the Doctor asked quickly.

"Up the other end of the cathedral," Angelo answered at once.

"Lead the way," The Doctor said, helping Angelo climb out of the tunnel into the now dark cathedral.

Quickly and quietly, knowing that the UNIT guards could notice them at any moment, the Doctor helped Alice, Mia, Tristian and Isaac out before lifting Bella out, who grabbed the Doctor's arm to help him out of the tunnel.

Silently they all followed Angelo as fast as they could without making a sound, up the Nave, past the Crossing and the choir area to a small room at the very back of the cathedral and out a small wooden door that led them out into the dark, cold night of Christmas Eve.

There was what sounded like an explosion from within the cathedral and everyone exchanged a glance before running around the side of the cathedral where a set of stairs that led up to the main street. They ran up them and ran along the deserted street until they stopped on the bridge over the Thames and watched as the river began to bubble for a few moments until a familiar large spaceship broke through the surface of the water and flew upwards, the roar of the engines shattering glass windows from the building closest to them (though thankfully not the stain glass windows from the cathedral) and making the ground shudder beneath their feet.

Bella, Alice, Isaac and Tristian all cheered loudly as the Doctor, Angelo and even Mia grinned as a thunderous fog horn bellowed twice in farewell from the _Emerald Mantis_. They all cheered and waved (the Doctor watched, laughing heartily) as the ship slowly disappeared into the clouds above London. Grinning happily, Bella slid her hand into the Doctor's and he looked down to her.

"Everybody lives," he said quietly with a small smile.

"Everybody lives," Bella agreed happily, resting her head on his arm as they both looked back up to the oddly glowing sky.

- O -

From the corner of Duke St Hill Street, a smartly dressed alien stood. His dark navy suit and his gloved hands blended into the dark building behind him, but his face stood out like nothing else on the Earth could.

Ood Sigma watched the group of celebrating people, which of course included the Doctor and his most recent companion, Bella Lumic. He knew that now was not the time to be seen by the time travelling pair, not just yet. They both had so much to do, so many places to go, so many people to save and so much still to experience before he could give his warning to the Doctor. Ood Sigma did not wish to be burdened with this terrible news and he wished he didn't have to tell them, but he must. The Doctor would make a terrible mistake, but Bella would be there to help him through it until the end. There was nothing Ood Sigma could do to prevent what would eventually happen; the pain, the heartbreak and the loss, for he knew that the time was coming and that four knocks would change everything…

Slowly, taking one last sad look at the Time Lord and his Nealonian companion, he turned, disappearing into the night…

- O -

Mia stood with her three friends and the reverend at the top of the stairs beside Southwark Cathedral, watching as the Doctor and Bella walked down the steps, hand in hand.

Mia bit her lip and moved forward. "Bella?" she called.

Bella stopped and turned, the Doctor stopping a few steps down, so they looked like they were the same height.

"I'm sorry," Mia said, "About what I said down there. It's just hard to think that aliens don't want to come here and overthrow us, you know? I mean, you said yourself, how many times we've been invaded, and there are so many films and TV programmes that have bad aliens as the threat… I guess what I am trying to say is that, I believe that _some_ aliens can be good and that the UNIT way of doing things may not always be the best way. I am sorry for what I did."

Bella's face was unreadable for a few moments before she smiled. "I am sorry too," she said and everyone (including the Doctor) frowned. "I keep forgetting what it is like to be human, that not everyone believes the way I do. I really hope that one day soon, we'll have a good alien encounter for the whole world to see, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Just remember that there are more good aliens than bad ones and you'll be alright."

Mia nodded as the Doctor wore a proud grin.

"Have a good Christmas," Bella smiled and she waved before turning around to take the Doctor's hand again.

As they walked down the stairs, the group heard the Doctor say "You know, I think Raanan fancied you," making them all laugh before they both walked into a blue police box. Exchanging a glance with the others, Mia watched in amazement as a loud kind of wheeze emanated from the box, a blue light on top flashing before it all disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Gaping slightly, Mia hoped that what Bella had said was true, because she felt ready to believe anything now that she had been given a second chance to make things right. Well, almost anything; she didn't believe the spaceship Titanic that was just absurd, no one would make a replica of a ship that sunk that bad.

Down below them in the courtyard, soldiers in black uniforms rushed out of the cathedral, their guns trained onto the spot where the TARDIS had been only moments ago, one of the men in particular looked extremely angry.

"You let them escape?" they heard the man yelling furiously, advancing on two younger looking men. "I thought I told you to stand guard of the TARDIS to prevent them from escaping _again_!"

"You did, Major Ingram, sir," said one of the young men, "but then you called us back inside when that cabinet blew up, sir."

The major gave a roar of frustration and Angelo turned to the rest of the group.

"You youngsters go," he whispered and they nodded, "I will sort this out, there is no point getting you involved with these people. Make sure, when this all comes down, to come and visit, won't you?"

As the four teenagers turned and began running down the street, Angelo began to descend the stairs into the courtyard, wondering how on Earth he was going to explain what happened tonight to anyone.


	10. Chapter 10: The Meaning of Christmas

**_Author's note: Just a small little chapter to finish things off for this episode and there is a bit of fluff :P_**

**_Also, I have just posted a new story, so if you like Harry Potter go and have a look. I need some feedback to help me decide if I should keep going with it, cause it's a different idea, considering I will be using an already established series of events, unlike Doctor Who for me. You don't have to have a look, but I would appreciate it. It's called The Untold Tales._**

**_I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood in the console room alone until Bella finally joined him, smelling of sweet shampoo.<p>

"Out of everyone I have ever travelled with," the Doctor said turning to her with a crooked smile, "_that_ was the longest shower anyone has ever had."

Bella grinned innocently; _she was up to something_, the Doctor thought.

"I was getting something ready," she said in answer, walking towards him. "Now close your eyes, I have a surprise for you."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"And don't bother asking the TARDIS what it is, I've told her not to say anything, so you'll just have to wait and see!"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose even more as he thought that Bella knew him better than he had thought.

_She literally swore me to secrecy_, said the TARDIS's soft, gentle voice in his mind.

"Too right I did!" Bella said as the Doctor grinned, "Now close your eyes," she added to the Doctor warmly.

Thinking that he didn't have much choice in the matter, the Doctor did as he was told and closed his eyes.

"No peaking!" added Bella with amused undertones, as he felt her hand close itself around his. She led him silently through the TARDIS, his grip on Bella's hand quite tight. He had never done this before, walk blindly through his own ship being led by one of his companions. To be fair, the TARDIS had never ganged up on him this bad either.

Finally they came to a stop and Bella let go of his hand. He heard her move in front of him before saying "Okay, you can look now."

The Doctor opened his eyes and felt his jaw drop.

They were standing in the kitchen and Bella was standing beside the wooden table in the centre of the room beside what the Doctor gathered was his surprise, which was definitely what he was now feeling.

In the very middle of the table sat a miniature TARDIS that stood to around fifty centimetres tall.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor." Bella said and the Doctor heard how much emotion and feeling went into that sentence.

The Doctor was momentarily speechless. "Bella, is this a cake?"

Bella's face broke into a proud grin and the Doctor gave a shocked, disbelieving laugh before moving forward to examine the extraordinary cake in more detail.

The blue icing was a perfect match to the real colour of the TARDIS and there even seemed to be wood grain running through it too. The windows seemed to shine with real light and the doors stood slightly ajar so the Doctor could make out a tiny part of the console room. He looked to Bella, who had been watching him somewhat nervously to see if he liked it.

"Do you like it?"

"Bella," he said before moving forward to pull her into his arms, his voice full of emotion, "I love it!"

Bella grinned and hugged the Doctor tightly.

_He's such a softy,_ said the TARDIS, making the both of them laugh.

The Doctor let go of Bella slowly, clearing his throat and hiding his face from Bella until he could wipe the few tears of happiness that had escaped from his eyes away. Bella saw this and smiled warmly, taking one of his hands in her while handing him a long knife.

"Oh no!" he complained loudly.

"Just do it," she laughed, rolling her eyes slightly. "I'll make you another one for your birthday, if I ever find out when that is!"

The Doctor grinned and gingerly cut a piece of cake for both Bella and himself. It was the best cake he had ever tasted, even better than the cake Bella had made for Sarah Jane.

"Oh," the Doctor said suddenly through a mouthful of cake, "we have somewhere to be!"

"We do?" Bella asked him, perplexed.

"Mmm," he said, swallowing the rest of his mouthful of cake before continuing, "I volunteered us to be a part of a 'Welcome Home' committee for a certain group of aliens." He finished with a smile as Bella grinned at him.


End file.
